A three-year-old tigress has strayed into the Bandwan area of West Bengal’s Purulia district from the Similipal Reserve Forest in Odisha.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
A three-year-old tigress has strayed into the Bandwan area of West Bengal’s Purulia district from the Similipal Reserve Forest in Odisha. The animal crossed over to Purulia from Jhargram district, where it had remained for several days. This region in south Bengal, with fragmented forests, does not have a tiger population. Forest officials said it does not have a prey base to sustain a tiger population. The tigress had been brought to Similipal from Maharashtra and is fitted with a radio collar.
A senior State government official said the West Bengal Forest Department was trying to drive the tigress back to Similipal by the same route. Efforts are also being made to capture the animal and release it into a wild habitat to avoid human-animal conflict, the State forest official said. To avoid crowding, officials have not disclosed the exact location of the animal.
Local police and forest officials have been urging people to not venture into the forests. Central Armed Police Force personnel are assisting the police in avoiding human-animal conflict. In June 2018, a tiger was hunted down by locals after it had strayed into the same region of the State.
West Bengal has a population of about 100 tigers in the Sundarbans mangrove forests.
Published – December 22, 2024 10:03 pm IST