Kolkata/Jalpaiguri: After around nine days of efforts hampered by rain, foresters on Tuesday evening captured a three-year-old tigress at Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve for its reintroduction into West Bengal’s Buxa Tiger Reserve on Oct 2.The tigress, which was shortlisted from an initial list of 12 and subsequently among the final three identified for the first phase of the project, was captured around 5.30 pm after foresters got a favourable window to dart the animal.“It’s a three-year-old tigress and perfectly healthy. It has already been radio-collared. It was captured around 5.30 pm on Tuesday,” Bengal forest minister Manoj Kumar Oraon said.Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari, Union forest minister Bhupender Yadav and state forest minister Manoj Oraon will attend the tiger release event on Oct 2 along with other dignitaries.The tigress is expected to be airlifted to north Bengal on Tuesday night itself, sources said. It will first be transported by road from Valmiki to Gorakhpur airbase, from where it will be flown to Hasimara airbase in north Bengal. From Hasimara, it will be taken by an animal ambulance to Buxa.“If the airlift can’t be initiated on Tuesday night, the tigress will be brought on Wednesday morning,” the minister said.Sources said an An-32 twin-engine military transport aircraft will be used for the airlift. The aircraft has been stationed at Gorakhpur airbase for the past 48 hours, they said. The entire journey, including the road and air transfers, is expected to take around five to six hours.International Big Cat Alliance director and former Bengal head of forest force Soumitra Dasgupta, who is closely monitoring the project and is a member of the NTCA expert panel overseeing the reintroduction, said the operation involved coordination between multiple agencies. “There has been perfect coordination between the Union forest and defence ministries and both the Bihar and Bengal govts. The tiger is absolutely healthy,” Dasgupta said.The capture operation had begun around Sept 20 but was repeatedly disrupted by rain. With the weather improving from Sunday, foresters finally got a suitable window to resume intensive efforts.On Monday, buffalo baits were placed at three to four strategic locations. The tigress made a kill at one of the sites on Monday night and returned several times to feed during the day. This provided foresters with an opportunity to position teams and prepare for the darting operation. “We finally got a favourable window to dart it around 5.30 pm,” a source said.The An-32 is designed for rugged, high-altitude and hot-weather operations.
