Buxa Tiger Reserve gets its first tigress from Bihar’s Valmiki reserve

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday released a tigress into the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district. The tigress was translocated from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve.

“This is just the beginning. Three more tigers will be reintroduced in Buxa Tiger Reserve in the next two months,” Adhikari announced. “The West Bengal government will develop the natural resources in North Bengal and woo foreign tourists in large numbers.”

“The Union minister has given me one gift today. Yadav has told me to identify 2,000 acres of land here in the deep forest adjacent to Jayanti Forest and Assam’s Manas National Park. The area will be demarcated and developed as a world-class forest destination,” Adhikari said.


“Inspired by PM Shri @narendramodi ji’s push for landscape conservation and species protection, today we have fulfilled the significant promise to reintroduce tigers in Buxa. T138 has been brought from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar to Buxa. I thank Bihar Chief Minister Shri @samrat4bjp and West Bengal Chief Minister Shri @SuvenduWB for their support in this successful reintroduction,” Bhupender Yadav posted on X.

“For a tiger to settle down, a proper system is required, and typically six animals—two males and four females, forming two units—are needed. In the first step of this project, we will bring in more tigers over time in 2026 and 2027. In 2028-29, we will introduce more tigers here,” Forest Minister Manoj Oraon said.

“It takes time—around 15 years—to successfully increase the number of tigers. The habitat and prey animals in Buxa will reach substantial numbers within 10 to 15 years, and we are planning for their survival over the next 25 years,” Oraon said.

The tigress was brought from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve to Buxa. Although the reserve did not have any resident big cats, camera traps had earlier spotted a tiger believed to have come from either Bhutan or Assam’s Manas National Park.

Adhikari thanked Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary for facilitating the smooth translocation of the tigress from Valmiki Tiger Reserve to Buxa. The translocation is part of a five-year project planned for the financial years 2023-24 to 2027-28, officials said.

The Proposal for Tiger Augmentation and Soft Release of Tigers in Buxa Tiger Reserve envisages not only bringing tigers to the reserve but also improving prey availability, developing suitable habitats, strengthening wildlife corridors and reducing human-wildlife conflict.