Kolkata/Baripada: Tigress Zeenat, which had strayed from Odisha’s Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) to West Bengal and was finally captured in Bankura district, is now in good health and under the observation of veterinary doctors at Alipore Zoo hospital, an official said Monday.
A senior forest official told PTI that the three-year-old tigress – who could finally be captured after being sedated with tranquillisers in Bankura Sunday afternoon – was brought to the Alipore Zoo Vet Hospital around midnight and her health checked after arrival.
She was again checked by three vets and zoo keepers Monday morning and her condition was okay excepting the stress and trauma due to tranquillizing and being on the run for 21 days since her escape from Similipal reserve forest in Odisha in the first week of December, he said.
“She will be under observation for some more days as she has been running away from one place to another in three states and has been chased. She did not have proper meal as the places where she roamed in the three weeks did not have enough prey base. Also, the forest department had to sedate her with tranquillizers as she could not be caught otherwise. So she needs time to recuperate,” he said.
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Zeenat was given buffalo meat as her meal on arrival at Alipore Zoo.
The official said a full-grown adult tiger takes 4-6 kg of buffalo meat a day in perfect health condition but did not specify her intake.
“She is in good health but needs rest and our team of vets and zoo keepers are at work. We are constantly monitoring him,” the official said but did not give a timeframe for when the tigress will be sent back to Simlipal.
The forest department is regularly coordinating with their counterparts in Odisha.
The tigress had kept wildlife officials from both the states on edge for over a week after leaving STR December 8.
The tigress was tranquillised Sunday with a single dart shot at 4:09pm, after previous attempts to sedate her had failed.
The animal’s vital parameters were examined several times before her road journey from Bankura to Kolkata in a vehicle accompanied by a convoy of police and the forest department.
“The operation to sedate Zeenat was undertaken after veterinarians gave their approval,” he said.
Since Saturday night, the tigress had been in the Gopalpur forest in Bankura district, where she was surrounded by double netting, he added.
Zeenat had been relocated from Maharashtra’s Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) to Similipal last month to introduce new gene pool to the tiger population.
After leaving Similipal, Zeenat ventured through forests in Manbazar and Bandwan before crossing into West Bengal, covering over 120 km across the borders of West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha.
Despite efforts, the tigress avoided baits in trap-door cages and instead killed domestic goats that strayed into the forest. Surveillance using drones was also conducted, but the dense forests made monitoring challenging.
Officials said Zeenat had been travelling shorter distances in recent days, suggesting she may be settling in the area.
PTI
