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Tigress Zeenat, which kept officials of 3 states on toes for 20 days, tranquilised
Tigress Zeenat will be taken to Alipore Zoo in Kolkata where a team of veterinarians will be monitoring her health over the next few days
Tigress Zeenat, which kept forest officials of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal on their toes for the past 20 days, was finally tranquiliaed in West Bengal’s Bankura district on Sunday afternoon.
She would be taken to Alipore Zoo in Kolkata where a team of veterinarians would be monitoring her health over the next few days. She weighs around 135 kilograms.
“We were finally able to tranquilise her on Sunday afternoon in Bankura district. It was a successful operation comprising more than 200 officials of West Bengal and Odisha,” said a senior forest official involved in the operation.
The three-year-old tigress was translocated from Maharashtra to the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Odisha in November this year to improve the reserve’s genetic diversity.
She, however, crossed over to Jharkhand on December 9 and later entered West Bengal on December 20 giving forest officials of the three states sleepless nights over the past 20 days. She entered West Bengal through Jhargram district and later moved to Purulia where she killed a goat. She finally entered Bankura district on Saturday. She was tranquilised around 3.56pm on Sunday.
All these days she was being tracked closely as she had radio collar on her neck. Every day forest officials would trace her location and alert nearby villages. There were no attacks on humans. The tigress was also avoiding humans, which was a relief for the officials.
“All these days every effort to capture her, including live baits and using tranquilisers, had failed to capture her. She remained almost elusive. We even trued to dart her early on Sunday morning but it failed. The tigress was very excited and was running. A team of three veterinarians who were stationed in Bankura decided to suspend the operation temporarily and resume later in the day,” said a second official.
Meanwhile, the area which was cordoned off with nylon nets to prevent the cat from fleeing, was further reduced from 2.5 hectares to 1.5 hectares to restrict its movement and make the operation easier.
“The operation resumed at round 3pm. She was finally darted and captured. She would be transferred to the Alipore Zoo for check-up,” said S Kulandivel, a senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer.
It came as a huge relief for the forest officials as safely capturing the tigress was a major challenge.
In April 2018 a tiger, which appeared in the Jangalmahal area of West Bengal comprising Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore districts, was killed by tribal hunters. It was found dead with a spear pierced through this face at Dherua in West Midnapore district.
