Bhubaneswar: Tigress Zeenat, who had left Odisha’s Similipal nearly two weeks back and reached West Bengal, has been finally captured by applying tranquiliser.
Revealing this to media on Sunday, Regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF), Baripada, Prakash Gogineni said Zeenat was last traced through her radio collar in an open space near a dam close to a forest in Bandwan of Bankura district West Bengal on Saturday.
The Forest officials of Odisha and West Bengal, who were on alert and were tracking her, zeroed in on her. Accompanied by a tranquilising team, they rushed to the spot and encircled the area.
The three-year-old tigress was rendered unconscious after being shot by tranquilising dart. The Forest officials captured an unconscious Zenat in a cage and brought her to Alipore Zoo in Kolkata on Sunday afternoon, said Gogineni.
Zeenat would be kept under observation and her health condition checked by a team of veterinarians. When she would be found fit for movement, she would be brought back to Similipal, he added.
Zeenat was translocated from Tadoba-Andheri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra to Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha on November 14 to strengthen the gene pool in the reserve. The 3-year-old tigress explored the northern part of Similipal between November 24 and December 8 when she walked past its boundary to explore her own territory.
She initially strayed into Jharkhand and moved further away from Chakulia range into West Bengal territory on the night of December 19, creating hurdles in the Forest department’s plans for possible tranquillisation.
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