Back In Odisha, Tigress Zeenat Released Into Soft Enclosure In Similipal Tiger Reserve

Bhubaneswar: Tigress Zeenat was released into a soft enclosure in Similipal Tiger Reserve’s southern division after being brought back to Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district on Wednesday from Alipore Zoo in Kolkata.

The 3-year-old tigress was captured in a forest in West Bengal three days ago, three weeks after it left STR.

Official sources said that the tigress was brought to Similpal from the veterinary hospital of Alipore Zoo in Kolkata in a special vehicle in the wee hours of Wednesday following the intervention of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). It was brought to Odisha using a Green Corridor through the interstate border at Jamshola around 1.25 am and was taken to Similpal.

A 10-member team of the Odisha Forest Department had been to Kolkata to bring the tigress.

For the time being, Zeenat will be kept in a soft enclosure in Similipal and the next course of action will be taken after observing her health condition and activities.

Zeenat was transported after veterinary team stated that her health condition was satisfactory and processing of necessary documents was over.

The Forest officials of West Bengal decided to shift the tigress reportedly after NTCA flagged violation of the standard operating procedure and questioned as to why it was shifted to a zoo instead of translocating it back to the state of Odisha.

The Bengal Forest department was asked to immediately shift the tigress to Similipal to avoid any imprinting or human interaction in captivity.

The three-year-old tigress left STR in the early hours of December 8 and made her way to Jharkhand and from there to West Bengal, covering more than 200 km and giving both foresters and people living near forested areas sleepless nights.

After 21 days, the elusive tiger was finally darted and captured on December 29. It was then taken to Alipore Zoo for blood and stool sample collection. West Bengal also formed a medical team to monitor the big cat, which was relocated to Similipal from Maharashtra’s Tadoba in November to strengthen its gene pool.