West Bengal: Tigress sneaks into Majgeria forest, teams on alert

Kolkata: The tigress that was moving in and around the Chakulia forest in Jharkhand close to Bengal border sneaked into the Majgeria forest under Belpahari range at Jhargram in West Bengal on Friday morning.

“We have taken all precautionary measures to prevent the entry of tigers into human habitat. Three tranquilising teams have been kept ready with trap cages installed for capturing the tiger,” said Debal Roy, state Chief Wildlife Warden.

A senior official of the department said that with the tiger being radio collared, the position of the big cat is being monitored round the clock. “We are using three antennas for triangulation to monitor its movement,” he added.

Roy said that awareness has been taken up through miking jointly with the police urging the people not to venture in the forest area. “ The local people should not be adventurous and go inside the forest out of curiosity. They should not send their cattle too inside the jungle, “ said an official who maintained that there is nothing to panic but to be on the alert.

It has been since December 10, when the Forest departments of Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha have been closely monitoring the movement of the Royal Bengal Tiger Zeenat that has travelled from Simlipal forest in Odisha and was moving in and around Jharkhand’s Chakulia barely 20 km away from Jhargram border . The foresters did not take any step like tranquilising the tigress with the hope that she may naturally return back to native Simlipal border which was more or less of same distance as that of the Bengal border.

The tigress named Zeenat was brought from the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve and released in Simlipal North in November. The tigress has brought back memories of a tiger that was found dead with a spear through its face.