Kolkata: The Forest departments of Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha are closely monitoring the movement of a female Royal Bengal Tiger that has travelled from Odisha’s Simlipal forest and is presently at Jharkhand’s Chakulia barely 20 km away from Jhargram border in Bengal.
“We are keeping a hawk-eye on the movement of the tiger and have taken all precautionary measures to prevent it from entering into human habitat. It is 15-20 km from the Bengal border and also the same distance from the Simlipal forest border. We are hoping that the big cat may take the same route to return to Odisha,” said Prakash Chand Gogineni, Field Director of Simlipal Tiger Reserve (STR), Odisha.
According to sources, the adult tigress moved into Jharkhand from Odisha’s Simlipal on Monday and its location was first tracked at Chakulia range in Jharkhand on Tuesday morning.
“We are in constant touch with our counterpart in Jharkhand and as the big cat is fitted with a radio collar, we are able to track its movement without much difficulty. The tigress moved in the northward direction on Wednesday afternoon, from its location on Tuesday. The DFO (Divisional Forest Officer) is also maintaining constant liaison with the Chakulia range,” said Debal Roy, state Chief Wildlife Warden. DFO Jhargram, Umar Imam said that all forest vehicles and range officers have been “put on alert and our tracking team with proven expertise has been put in place in case of any emergency”. “There is no reason to panic as we have all precautionary measures in place to tackle any emergency situation. There is no extra alert for the tourists except the general advisory that no one should venture into the forest after sunset,” added Imam. According to sources, the tigress named Zeenat was brought from Maharashtra’s Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve and released in Simlipal North in Nov. The tigress has brought back memories of a tiger that was found dead with a spear through its face in Jhargram’s Lalgarh forest some six years back. As per DNA analysis, the Lalgarh tiger probably travelled nearly 1,000 km from forests of central India.
“A tiger is an asset. We are letting it move freely. If needed, we may tranquilise it and release it back in Simlipal,” said Bikash Das, CCF (Wildlife) Odisha.