Kolkata/Jalpaiguri: In a fresh challenge to Bengal’s ambitious tiger reintroduction programme in Buxa, the three-year-old tigress brought back from Assam’s Raimona landscape on Nov 3 escaped from her 2.2-hectare acclimatisation enclosure again on Sunday afternoon.The tigress, said sources, “dug a hole beneath the enclosure’s foundation” and slipped out around 1.30 pm on Sunday, barely four days after foresters brought her back following a 10-day operation in the neighbouring state.The Nov 3 operation, during which she was darted and brought back to Buxa, was the third tranquillisation attempt on her in 34 days.Till the last reports came in, sources said the tigress was moving eastwards towards Assam and had crossed Bala river. If she retraces her earlier route, the tigress will have to cross Jayanti and Raidak rivers before reaching Sankosh. Once across Sankosh, she could move further into Assam or head towards Bhutan.The latest breach of the enclosure’s boundary raises fresh questions about the security of the acclimatisation facility and the challenges of keeping the wild tigress confined.Asked if it is possible for a big cat to breach an enclosure by digging under the fence, a former Wildlife Institute of India scientist said: “Yes, if the foundation is not done properly. Tigers are not great at digging like the dog family or hyenas.”The tigress has already been tranquillised thrice — once during the capture at Valmiki on Sept 29, then on Oct 1 to refit her collar that came off during her travel to Buxa and again on Nov 3, during the capture in Assam’s Raimona landscape.The latest escape comes after an eventful month for the big cat, identified as T-138 and later named BTR-TF1. Brought from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve, the tigress was released into the wild at Buxa’s 25th Mile enclosure on Oct 2 as part of Bengal’s first tiger reintroduction project. However, she left the enclosure on Oct 4 and subsequently travelled across Sankosh river into Assam’s Raimona landscape.Her movements across the Bengal-Assam forest corridor kept officials on tenterhooks. At one point, her radio-collar signals went missing for more than 32 hours, triggering an intensive tracking exercise. The signals eventually resumed, allowing forest teams to trace her movements. She was subsequently tracked through several locations in Assam, including areas close to human habitation.The possibility of the tigress straying into populated areas, particularly amid concerns over human-animal interaction and the approaching Kali Puja festivities, had prompted the Bengal forest department to seek permission from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for another tranquillisation operation.After receiving the necessary clearance, teams from Bengal and Assam forest departments, assisted by researchers and trackers, launched an operation to capture her. She was finally tranquillised in the Gilaguri area of Dotma, around 30 km from Raimona National Park, and transported back to Buxa on Nov 3.
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