Tigress Zeenat, who strayed from Odisha's Simlipal forest to Bankura in West Bengal, could not be sedated despite tranquillisers having been used on it early Sunday morning, and the operation will be resumed after veterinarians give the go ahead, an official said.

Chief Wildlife Warden, West Bengal, Debal Roy said the tigress is at the same place as Saturday night in Bankura district's Gopalpur forest and has been encircled with double netting.

The perimeter of the netting has been shortened with the tigress inside the netted area, he said.

"The tigress was tranquillised at 1.20 am today, but it could not be sedated after repeated doses," Roy told PTI.

He said that since there is an upper limit to the amount of dosage to be applied on the animal in tranquiliser shots, the operation to sedate it was abandoned temporarily at 4.30 am.

"The tigress is in a very excited state and that is why it is not getting sedated," he said.

Roy said that Zeenat has been given some rest at present.

Stating that there are three veterinarians present at the site, he said, "After the vets examine the situation, the tranquilisation efforts to sedate the tigress will be resumed."

Zeenat was brought to Odisha's Similipal from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra last month with the goal of introducing a new gene pool to the tiger population.

Zeenat, who strayed from Simlipal, travelled about 15 km to seek refuge in a forest in Manbazar block on December 27 from Bandwan where she was holed up between December 24 and 26. She has been in West Bengal for nearly a week after crossing over from Jharkhand.

The tigress has covered over 120 km, roaming the forests at the tri-junction of West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha, in search of new territory after leaving Similipal. She has shown no signs of heading back to Similipal Tiger Reserve so far, senior Forest department officials said.

The big cat has so far not touched the baits kept in trap-door cages but devoured domestic goats that strayed into the forests.

She has been travelling shorter distances over the last few days, the officials said.

Drones have been deployed to monitor her movements but heavy forests are affecting the surveillance, Forest department officials said.

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