Jhargram, a zone disturbed by human-elephant conflict, is now worried about a fresh threat — a tigress.

Foresters in Jhargram have deployed three separate teams equipped with tranquillisers, cages and an ambulance along the Jharkhand border amid reports of the movement of tigress Zeenat, who came out of Odisha’s Similipal Tiger Reserve last week.

Zeenat, who had been translocated last month from Maharashtra to the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) of Odisha to improve its genetic diversity, crossed into the forests of the neighbouring East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. The current location of the tigress, which has a radio collar around her neck, is in Chakulia forest in East Singbhum, barely 10km from the Bengal border in Jambuni and Belpahari, which are in the Jhargram forest division.

Sources said three teams, comprising around 25 foresters — particularly those who are experienced in tracking wild animals like elephants — were deployed to catch the loitering big cat if it
enters Bengal.

Jhargram divisional forest officer Umar Imam said: “The tigress has not entered our jurisdiction so far. However, we have taken all possible measures and deployed teams of efficient foresters near the border to act promptly if it comes to Bengal.”

Although the foresters said they were confident of catching the tigress if it entered Bengal, many claimed that the task was fraught with many problems.

First, the foresters in Jhargram, which faces human-elephant conflicts, have expertise in handling the jumbos, not tigers. As of Saturday, 12 elephants were roaming in different ranges of the Jhargram forest division.

“With limited human resources to handle the elephants, it is challenging for the department to deploy additional foresters to keep surveillance on the tigress. Although the big cat is not very close to Jhargram, if it enters Bengal, foresters would find it thought to handle a dozen elephants and a tigress at the same time,” said a forest department officer who once served in Jhargram.

“It is always a tough task to tranquillise a tiger, compared to an elephant. The job becomes even more difficult if the deployed foresters are not used to tranquillising a tiger,” he added.

A joint team of 40 foresters from Jharkhand and Odisha unsuccessfully attempted to dart the tigress on Thursday morning. The “elusive” nature of the tigress led the government to issue a prohibitory order, preventing villagers from coming out of their homes after dusk.

The team had laid a bait of buffalo calves for the tigress at Chiabandi forest. On Thursday morning, Zeenat killed one of the calves and then fled without eating the prey maybe she sensed that humans were tracking her.

“The team tried to tranquillise the animal but the target was missed,” a forester said.

“The tigress has moved out of the reserve in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district and entered the Chakulia forest range of Jharkhand, 30km from Odisha borders and 80km from Jamshedpur,” said Jamshedpur divisional forest officer Saba Alam Ansari.