Zeenat, a three-year-old tigress relocated from Maharashtra to Odisha's Similipal Reserve Forest (STR) on November 15, has been roaming a 1-km stretch of jungle in West Bengal's Purulia district for the past two days, a top forest official said on Monday.
Bengal's chief wildlife warden Debal Roy told PTI that the tigress, which is fitted with a radio collar, is currently traversing a dense and forested area in Bandwan. "There's not much update regarding her movement. She is currently stationed in Bandwan, moving around inside the deep forest ranges in the belt," he said. Two teams of Bengal forest department, including a squad from Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, are constantly monitoring her movement through radio collars.
"She has so far eluded the camouflaged cages with trap doors and the bait of goats and buffalo, and kept moving from one place to another," Roy added. Teams from the Odisha forest department are also at work to monitor the movement of Zeenat in the Raika hillock area and moving towards Chilka forest — all within Bandwan forest range, another forest official said. The official added, "The hilly terrains with thorny bushes have made it more convenient for Zeenat to escape surveillance, as the hillocks disrupt the continuous transmitting of signals and she remains incommunicado at times." "On Sunday evening, the signal indicated she was moving towards Ghatsila in Jharkhand, but she then changed her plan and decided to stay put in Bandwan range. She even did not touch the goat, kept as bait along her route, and moved towards Chilika forest," the official in the Jhargram forest range said. Zeenat had crossed over to West Bengal from neighbouring Jharkhand four days ago and roamed around in Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur districts, all parts of the forested 'Jangalmahal' belt until Saturday.
She then entered Bandwan in Purulia and showed no signs of heading back to her original habitat in Similipal through the inter-state forest corridor of over 100 km, the official added. Asked about reports that another tigress from Similipal, which had escaped around the same time and roamed around the forested corridor of three neighbouring states, had already headed back to her old habitat, Roy said, "We don't have information about two tigresses escaping from Similipal and having strayed into West Bengal." "We have information about one tigress, Zeenat, leaving Similipal, entering Jharkhand, and now having crossed over to our state for the past four days. Our men, along with their counterparts in Odisha and Jharkhand, are keeping a constant vigil on her movement," he said. He added that the big cat has so far not shown any signs of aggression. "The tigress had covered over 100 km after straying from Similipal, but such behaviour is normal for tigers who wander several kilometres in search of a new territory." "Probably the forest belt of neighbouring states, having similar habitat, became a corridor for her, and she is trying to set up a new territory. We are at work to drive her back to Similipal through the same route, or if she is captured, release her back into the reserve forest in Odisha. We are hopeful there is no man-animal conflict," a senior state forest official said.
Zeenat and two-and-a-half-year-old Jamuna were brought from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra with the goal of introducing a new gene pool to the tiger population.
Jamuna was brought from Maharashtra on October 27, while Zeenat arrived on November 15 and was released into the wild on November 24. While Jamuna was roaming the Similipal landscape in good health, Zeenat walked into Jharkhand and later to West Bengal forests, giving sleepless nights to foresters, local people, and tour operators as lakhs of tourists visit this picturesque belt during winter."
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