Tigress strays into Purulia’s Bandwan forest range; being tracked through its radio collar

Kolkata: Two days after staying under Belpahari range at Jhargram in Bengal, tigress Zeenat on Sunday morning sneaked into Bandwan forest range in Purulia district.

The movement of the tigress from Jhargram to Purulia is a relief for the Forest department as human habitation is at a reasonable distance from the Bandwan range.

“The three tranquilising teams from Sunderbans that camped at Jhargram since Friday moved to Purulia. Arrangements of using bait with trap cages were put in place. The present location of the tigress is a good distance away from human habitation but we are continuing with our miking activities to advise people from venturing into the forest. There is no place of any complacency until the big cat is trapped or is away from the jurisdictional area of Bengal forest,” said Debal Roy, state chief wildlife warden. S. Kulandaivel, chief conservator of forest in Bengal said that the Bandwan range is close to the Jharkhand border and there is a probability of the tigress moving to Dalma range.

The foresters were trying to find the tigress from Saturday. They heaved a sigh of relief as the radio collar fitted on the big cat emitted a signal. It is being tracked since the time it entered Bandwan forest early Sunday morning.

Since December 10, the Forest departments of Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha have been closely monitoring the movement of the tiger that has travelled from Simlipal forest in Odisha. The tigress has been mostly staying in the forests of Mural, Rajabasa, Dhobasole, Godrasole and Chiyabandhi in Jharkhand, crossing Railway tracks more than thrice and venturing into an abandoned World War II strip twice. It also came to the Bengal border quite a few times. Ultimately in the wee hours on Friday it entered Belpahari forest range.

The tiger was brought from Maharashtra’s Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve and released in Simlipal North in November.