The three-year-old tigress, Zeenat, which strayed from Odisha’s Simlipal Tiger Reserve (STR) and sneaked into West Bengal’s western part three days ago, travelled 20 km in past 48 years and entered forests in Purulia’s Bandwan from Jhargram on Sunday night, said forest department officials.
Tracking the signal received from the radio collar of the tiger, foresters came to know Zeenat is roaming in the region dotted with villages along the Bengal—Jharkhand border area.
“We placed cages with goats but Zeenat proved to be smart enough as she did not turn up near the baits for a meal. It seems, the big cat sensed the presence of human beings around the cage and avoided it. Our tranquiliser teams are ready to catch the tiger,” said Anjan Guha, divisional forest officer, Purulia.
Bandwan is a remote pocket in Purulia district dotted with hillocks, villages and forests.
On the night of December 8, Zeenat left STR, crossed over two states covering 200 km and entered Bengal on December 20. The big cat was brought from Tadoba forest in Maharashtra and released in Simlipal forest on November 14, as a part of a programme to strengthen the STR’s gene pool.
All efforts to catch the animal by setting up cages with live baits proved futile.
Senior forest officials are monitoring Zeenat’s movement by tracking the signals from its radio collar. “It has appeared that the animal is avoiding any conflict with humans. It is constantly moving, avoiding human habitats. There are shadow communication zones in the forest areas and sometimes we are not getting signals. As a result, our tranquilising teams are unable to get proper sightings of Zeenat,” said a forest department official.
Forest department officials and continuously miking in the area asking villagers not to venture into forests with their cattle and leave home alone after sunset.
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