The 3-year-old tigress captured at Valmiki for Buxa reintroduction
It was captured around 5.30 pm on Tuesday,” Bengal forest minister Manoj Kumar Oraon said. Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari, Union forest minister Bhupender Yadav and state forest minister Manoj Oraon will attend the tiger release event on Oct 2 along with other dignitaries. “It’s a three-year-old tigress and perfectly healthy. It has already been radio-collared.
Sources said an An-32 twin-engine military transport aircraft will be used for the airlift. The aircraft has been stationed at Gorakhpur airbase for the past 48 hours, they said.
“If the airlift can’t be initiated on Tuesday night, the tigress will be brought on Wednesday morning,” the minister said. International Big Cat Alliance director and former Bengal head of forest force Soumitra Dasgupta, who is closely monitoring the project and is a member of the NTCA expert panel overseeing the reintroduction, said the operation involved coordination between multiple agencies. The tiger is absolutely healthy,” Dasgupta said. “We finally got a favourable window to dart it around 5.30 pm,” a source said.
It will first be transported by road from Valmiki to Gorakhpur airbase, from where it will be flown to Hasimara airbase in north Bengal. From Hasimara, it will be taken by an animal ambulance to Buxa. The entire journey, including the road and air transfers, is expected to take around five to six hours. “There has been perfect coordination between the Union forest and defence ministries and both the Bihar and Bengal govts. This provided foresters with an opportunity to position teams and prepare for the darting operation.
The tigress is expected to be airlifted to north Bengal on Tuesday night itself, sources said. On Monday, buffalo baits were placed at three to four strategic locations. The tigress made a kill at one of the sites on Monday night and returned several times to feed during the day.