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Journalism of Courage
With 90 pairs of camera traps inside the forest area of the Jhargram and Purulia district border, six smart cameras with live feeds, an expert team from Sunderbans with two tranquilizer guns, and teams of forest officials and guards — the West Bengal forest department has begun a hunt for the tiger which moved in from Jharkhand.
“A composite task force has been set up… It is true that this one, unlike the previous one (Zeenat), has no radio collar. This makes our job tougher,” Debal Roy, Head of Forest Force, West Bengal, told The Indian Express.
“We have two strategies. If the tiger returns on its own to its area of origin, we will allow it. But if the tiger decides to stay, we will sedate and capture it,” said Roy.
Another worrying factor for forest officials is that tribal groups in Jhargram organise festivities on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.
State forest minister Birbaha Hansda told The Indian Express, “The area where the tiger is has been cordoned off with nets from three sides… Tomorrow there is the Makar festival. Everything is normal but people have been told not to go inside the forest.”
S Kulandaivel, chief conservator of forests, said, “Special awareness drives have been conducted in tribal-dominated villages that will celebrate the festival tomorrow near the forest areas where the tiger is located. We are taking all precautions. “
On December 29, three-year-old Zeenat, a tigress, after 21 days of travelling nearly 300 km from Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha and crossing Jharkhand, was captured in Bankura. A war of words erupted between Bengal and Odisha after the tiger was returned to Odisha.
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