Bhopal: A five-year old tiger at the Van Vihar National Park here has become a tourist attraction as it spends a good time playing with a wooden softball, a move taken by the park authorities to keep the big cat active. The tiger, named 'Panna', was provided with the softball last week, in order to keep it agile, active and to break its monotonous routine.

The initiative is part of a pilot project under which the activities of the tiger, brought from Panna Tiger Reserve, are being observed after it was seen that the animal was becoming lethargic and was reduced to merely a showpiece, a senior park official said.

"The basic idea was to keep the tiger agile and active as in captive conditions it is not possible for the feline to run around as it can in the wild," park director, Sameeta Rajora. "The ball is made of Khamer wood, a kind of soft wood, which has been given a shape of a ball. Before giving it to Panna, it was boiled in meat juices to induce flavour in it, so that the tiger gets attracted to it," she said.

Weighing 15 kg, the ball was initially given to the tiger in a small space and once it got attracted and began playing with i

Weighing 15 kg, the ball was initially given to the tiger in a small space and once it got attracted and began playing with it, the softball was later moved into a large enclosure having similar conditions as in the wild, she said. Rajora said the idea came during an interaction with the authorities of a zoo in Uttar Pradesh, where a similar activity was introduced among lions.

However, it was difficult to do it with tigers as they normally prefer to stay alone as compared to lions who roam around in groups. "The way this tiger has adopted itself with the ball, is very satisfying, behaving like any normal kid who plays with a ball, hides it and doesn't want to share with others and is very possessive about it," added Rajora.