Bhubaneswar: Tigress Zeenat, which dispersed to Jharkhand from Similipal Tiger Reserve 12 days ago, was traced to a forest in West Bengal's Jhargram forest division early Friday, keeping forest officials of three states on tenterhooks.
The Tadoba-Andheri native, which found its new home in Similipal on Nov 24, left it on the night of Dec 8. Forest personnel tracking the cat through radio collar around its neck found it in Jharkhand's Chakulia region, where it spent around 10 days changing different forest blocks.
Principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife) Prem Kumar Jha said on Thursday night the tigress moved towards West Bengal and is currently somewhere under the jurisdiction of Jhargram forest division, where multiple teams from Odisha and West Bengal are monitoring its movement. "The area where it has been located is densely populated. All required logistics have been kept ready to try and tranquillise the cat and bring it back to Similipal. We are keeping a close watch to avoid any conflict with humans," Jha said.
Jhargram is not a wildlife division but a territorial division. In a wildlife division, protection mechanism expertise for wildlife management is available. Also, in a wildlife division, enforcement is considerably stricter than in a territorial division. The three divisions neighbouring Jhargram are Bankura (south), Kharagpur, and Medinipur. An alert has been sounded in those divisions. However, tranquillising experts from Sundarbans have been kept on standby and a cage has also been kept ready.
Wildlife experts have expressed concern about how Zeenat has been behaving ever since it left Similipal after being released from a soft enclosure. They said tigers with the instinct of a sneaker behave like this. "In Tadoba, the tigress must have a sneaker-like imprint; otherwise, it shouldn't have dispersed that far and crossed the borders of two states. But, for now, it should be brought back and released afresh in Similipal," said a wildlife expert.
Meanwhile, tigress Yamuna has moved to explore the neighbouring Kuldhia wildlife sanctuary, close to Similipal, as per its movement tracked through a radio collar. Yamuna is within Odisha and in Similipal biosphere jurisdiction, as Kuldhia is a larger part of Similipal biosphere.
Yamuna, two and a half years old, was released in Similipal's south region. Since then, it has stayed put in the reserve's core habitat. Zeenat was released in the north division. The south division is a deep core region, while the north is a mix of core and buffer.