A three-year-old tigress translocated from Bihar to West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve has wandered into Assam's Raimona National Park while exploring new territory, prompting continuous monitoring by wildlife authorities who view her movement as natural behavior.

A three-year-old tigress translocated from Bihar to West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve has wandered into Assam's Raimona National Park while exploring new territory, prompting continuous monitoring by wildlife authorities who view her movement as natural behavior.

A three-year-old tigress translocated from Bihar to West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve has wandered into Assam's Raimona National Park while exploring new territory, prompting continuous monitoring by wildlife authorities who view her movement as natural behavior.

A three-year-old tigress was brought from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar to Buxa Tiger Reserve in North Bengal on October 2. Three weeks later, the radio-collared tigress crossed over to Assam via the Sanjoy River. The tigress then ventured 25–30 km into Raimona National Park in Assam in search of territory. The animal was tracked to Rajendrapur village.

Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had released BTR-TF-1 (T-138) at the reserve. The aim was to revive the tiger population in the foothills of the Himalayas to boost tourism.

“The tigress is exploring her natural habitat based on her basic instincts. Tigers take time to settle. When we released her, she was given 1 km of space; now she is exploring a larger territory. Assam is not very far from where she was released. We are monitoring her every hour and checking her location,” said West Bengal Forest Minister Manoj Oraon.

West Bengal and Assam, along with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), are closely monitoring the tigress. Authorities are allowing the tigress to follow her natural instincts before considering whether to safely tranquillise her and bring her back to Buxa Tiger Reserve if they feel it is necessary. The aim, however, is to ensure that the tigress faces no physical harm.

The tigress was airlifted aboard an Indian Air Force C-130J Super Hercules aircraft to Hasimara Air Force Base. She was then translocated to Buxa during India’s Wildlife Week. However, the Bengal government is not in a hurry to bring the tigress back.

The planned translocation from Bihar to West Bengal is part of the latter’s Tiger Augmentation and Recovery Project to re-establish wild tigers in North Bengal, where forests are connected through corridors to Assam and Bhutan. There has been a decline in the tiger population at Buxa Tiger Reserve since 2009. Buxa was declared a reserve in 1983. There have been changes in the forest area due to habitat degradation and fragmentation, changes in land use and a decline in prey availability. These factors have affected the ecological conditions that are essential for sustaining a resident tiger population.

“This is not a case of the tigress escaping the tiger reserve. This is a tiger corridor and the entire area is forested. The National Tiger Conservation Authority is also aware of this. For the moment, we have no plans to tranquillise her and bring her back here. We want her to explore the territory before settling. The tigress is healthy, and I have seen her photo. She has also killed a wild boar,” added Oraon.

The forest minister said the state is in touch with its Assam counterparts, and the field director and DFO are monitoring the tigress. Oraon said it is normal behaviour for wild cats to explore their territory for at least three months before settling down.

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