Kolkata: The Sundarbans team that tranquillised Odisha tigress Zeenat in Dec 2024 after a 21-day search across Jangalmahal districts has been deployed for another challenging assignment — this time in Bihar , where it will help capture a tigress for reintroduction into north Bengal’s Buxa Tiger Reserve.
Officials said the plan will be finalised in consultation with Wildlife Institute of India (WII) experts and a team from Buxa. The animal will subsequently be brought to Buxa as part of the ambitious tiger reintroduction programme — the 13th in the country. The team comprises deputy rangers Mrityunjay Biswas and Rajib Naskar, forest guard Partha Haldar, Aranyashathi Kalipada Gayen and veterinarian Sankar Biswas. The strategy for the Valmiki operation will be worked out after the team reaches the reserve.
Haldar is the only new member, having replaced forest guard Shambhu Das, who was there in the earlier team. The five-member team from the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve left for Bihar on Sunday to assist in the capture of a tigress at Valmiki Tiger Reserve.
Experts have already narrowed down on a few tigresses at Valmiki, according to a WII source. The final animal to be moved to Buxa will be selected after the Bengal teams arrive and they jointly assess the situation. The experience gained during the Zeenat operation could prove particularly useful. Nylon nets, commonly used in the Sundarbans to demarcate village and forest areas and during tiger captures, helped restrict Zeenat’s movement to a confined zone in a Bankura village before it was tranquillised.
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