Buxa tigress captured in Assam after crossing into Raimona reserve for habitat exploration

Kolkata: Tigress from Buxa Reserve Forest, which had moved to Raimona reserve forest in Assam, was tranquilized on Wednesday and captured from Kokrajhar in Assam after it went to Raimona from Assam.

“We are happy to receive support from our department along with officials of Assam. I thank them all for tranquilizing the Buxa tigress “BuxaRani,” Bengal Forest Minister Manoj Oraon said today evening.

The tigress was brought to Buxa as part of its initiative to increase the resident tiger population in the Buxa Tiger Reserve on October 2. The tigress was released by Union Forest Minister Bhupender Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.


It crossed the Sankosh river on October 23 and entered Raimona National Park in Assam, apparently in search of a suitable territory, officials said.

“We have been monitoring the radio collared tigress after it moved to Raimona forest Reserve in Assam,” the state minister said.

The state was coordinating with Assam government to bring back the tigress, which was brought from Bihar's Valmiki Tiger Reserve and released into Alipurduar district’s Buxa on October 2, the minister had said on Friday.

"The tigress was tracked through its radio collar today. Efforts are underway to bring it back. I will go Assam and ensure the tigress's safe return. We are exploring all means to facilitate its smooth, safe return, Oraon said

The state forest minister pointed out that the forest department was exploring all possible options to facilitate the animal's safe return.

Buxa has historically been an important tiger landscape of North Bengal. Declared a Tiger Reserve in 1983, it forms part of a larger ecological landscape with connectivity to forests and protected areas of Bhutan and Assam. Over the decades, however, habitat degradation and fragmentation, changes in land use and decline in prey availability affected the ecological conditions required to sustain a resident tiger population.