‘We are not going to give back this one’: Bengal forest minister as another tiger enters state from Jharkhand

“This tiger has come from Jharkhand. It has entered Jhargram. Our forest department officials are on alert and have reached the area. Teams have been deployed… This proves that our forests are suitable for tigers and there is ample prey base or food here. That is why tigers are entering our forests from neighbouring states,” Bengal Forest Minister Birbaha Hansda said.

“This tiger has no radio collar. We are not going to give back this tiger if and when it is captured here,” Hansda added.

In the absence of a radio collar, say experts, it is difficult to identify the home range of the tiger currently moving.

Forest officials said the latest pugmarks of the tiger has been found in the Banspahari area of Jhargram district.

“We have found the pugmarks of the new tiger in Purulia and Jhargram districts. The tiger is currently located on the border of the two districts. We are putting in all resources like the last time when we captured Zeenat. Teams from Sunderban Tiger Reserve are preparing to visit the area to capture the tiger,” Chief Conservator of Forest S Kulandaival told The Indian Express.

However, the tiger, unlike three-year-old Zeenat, is not wearing a radio collar, making it difficult for the forest officials to track.

“Camera traps are being put up in the area to locate the tiger. What makes the job a bit more difficult is that, unlike Zeenat, this tiger has no radio collar and is difficult to track,” said a senior forest department official involved in tracking the tiger.

In the first week of January, Jharkhand forest officials sighted the tiger near Chowka in the Khunti area, from where the big cat moved to Dalma wildlife sanctuary. According to sources in the West Bengal forest department, the tiger likely entered Purulia district from Dalma and then moved to Banspahari in Jhargram district.

On Bengal government’s charges of another tigress from Odisha spotted near the state earlier this month, a senior Odisha official said there is “no history of tigers” from Odisha entering Bengal in the past seven years.

The capture of Zeenat and her return to Similpal Reserve Park had led to a verbal spat between the BJP government in Odisha and the TMC government in West Bengal.

There was a verbal duel between Bengal and Odisha and West Bengal over capture and return of Zeenat. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed Odisha over the issue, saying the tigress had left people in the border areas of the state terrorised and they couldn’t leave home. “People could not leave their homes, schools had to be closed… “Later, they say, give back the tiger… If you do not have space, let us know. We will keep the tiger forever in our reserves.”

Odisha Forest and Environment Minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia lashed out at her, saying West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was being “immature” and called her “outrage” political as the BJP was in power in Bhubaneswar. “Her statement that Odisha does not have adequate forests reflects her ignorance as around 39 per cent of our total geographical area comprises forests,” Singhkhuntia had said in a retort to Mamata’s remark.

On December 29, three-year-old Zeenat tigress was captured in Bankura in West Bengal after leaving a 300-km trail behind her, spanning three states.

She was brought back to Similipal on January 1.

Zeenat was introduced to Simlipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra on November 14, as a part of a program to strengthen the reserve’s gene pool.