Will Tigress Zeenat Return To Odisha On Its Own After Straying Into Jharkhand?

Bhubaneswar: The Forest Department is hopeful of Tigress Zeenat’s return to Odisha, with the feline moving another 5km towards Odisha on Saturday.

The tigress is 15km away from the Odisha border.

While tracking Zeenta’s movement in Rajabasa under Chakulia forest division in Jharkhand, the department is waiting for it to cross the Subarnarekha river, which will be a significant indicator of its return to Odisha, the TOI reported.

The 3-year-old tigress was translocated from Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve in Maharashtra to Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha last month as part of a project to improve gene pool of the big cats in the reserve. It was released to the core area of Similipal on November 24 after keeping it in a soft enclosure within the core area for 10 days. However, it ventured into Chakulia forest of Jharkhand, about 15 to 20 km away from the Odisha border, in search of new territory on December 8 by leaping hills, crossing rivers, and traversing forests.

A 15-member team from Odisha’s wildlife division has since been tracking its movement.

The department was contemplating to tranquilise Zeenat if it did not come back on its own over the next few days since the area it was then moving lacked adequate forest cover and prey base and could lead to conflict situation. An earlier attempt to tranquilise it also failed, the TNIE reported.