The three-year-old tigress was tranquilised in Kokrajhar district after venturing into Assam's Raimona National Park.
A three-year-old tigress named Dooars Rani, who was recently relocated to West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve, was captured in Assam on Tuesday and returned to Buxa, according to The Hindu and The Indian Express.
The tigress, also identified as T-138, was released in Buxa on October 2 from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve as part of the state’s first tiger relocation project. She crossed into Assam's Raimona National Park on October 25 after crossing the Sankosh River and a road in Gosaigaon.
Forest Minister Manoj Oraon said the tigress was tranquilised and caged in Gilaguri, in the Dotma area of Assam’s Kokrajhar district, at around 5.30pm on Tuesday. The operation involved forest officials from Assam and West Bengal, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), three elephants from Bengal, and earthmovers.
Oraon stated that the team initially let the tigress explore but captured her when she came close to human settlements. He added that the tigress is safe and healthy, noting that it is the nature of tigers to explore and she will likely cross into Raimona again.
The Buxa Tiger Reserve was declared a tiger reserve in 1983. The Tiger Augmentation and Recovery Project, supported by the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), has been implemented since 2018 to assist in the recovery of the region.
