Tigress Zeenat’s pugmarks were yet to get desiccated on the Bengal, Jharkhand terrains but those suddenly emerged sinistrous among the panicked residents as those have lured another big cat far away from Palamau Tiger Reserve in Jharkhand and currently breathing closer to Bengal.
A fugitive tiger shuttling between Chandil and Dalma in Jharkhand has radiated adequate trepidation in Jharkhand bordering Bengal stretches in Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram since five days as it’s left paw impressions barely 16 km away from Barabazar, Balarampur in Purulia on Tuesday. “The fresh pugmarks on Thursday showed it’s moving towards the Dalma Range forests from it’s recent hideouts in Chandil,” Saba Alam Ansari, Divisional Forest Officer, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand told The Statesman today. DFO, Ansari added: “Earlier it was near Balidih in Chandil but we are getting fresh pugmarks reflecting it’s movements from time to time, but it’s not spotted as yet.” Dalma is 21 km away from Chandil.
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Dalma in Jamshedpur incidentally is the elephant reserve in Jharkhand and 62 Dalma Range elephants in Bankura and their 30 counterparts in Purulia are currently ravaging in the farmlands during the harvest season. The intrusion of the feline tiger into the elephant corridor has pressed the panic button in the Jhargram, Bankura, Purulia districts as the big cat would have easy access to the Bengal patches like what Zeenat recently followed.
The tiger’s presence was felt soon after the New Year night at Gangudih near Chandil on 2 January and it fuelled panic in 18 villages under Chowka PS area there especially after it’d preyed on a full grown bull and a calf. Even pugmarks were visible on the wetlands beside the Subarnarekha river suggesting that it’d retreated back to jungle after drinking water from the river. Based on the footprints, the Jamshedpur Forest Division have consistently been relocating the trap cameras since 5 January.
Bengal Forest officials too have woke up considering the development in the bordering wild. Tigress Zeenat escaped from the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odhisa was tranquilised by the Bengal Forest officials in Bankura on last 5 January.
“We’ve already placed trap cameras and deployed substantial man powers in the jungle corridor to keep track on the movement of the tiger,” said Dr S Kulandaivel, Chief Conservator of Forests (Central) in Durgapur. The Jharkhand officials haven’t sent any high alert to Bengal officials about the tiger’s tangential movement towards Bengal. The Jamshedpur DFO said: “Currently, it’s just heading towards Dalma, I could say.”
Unlike Zeenat, this tiger is not equipped with a radio collar, which has infused fresh fear of the animal’s sudden soft-pad intrusion close to the Bengal hamlets. Anjan Guha, DFO, Purulia said: “It’s nearly 16 to 20 km away from border we’ve gathered.” On Tuesday, a car driver Ramprasad Mahato claimed that he’d seen the tiger near Kangratand jungle away from Chandil. On a newly built concrete road near Basunia jungle fresh pugmarks were visible the other day, the officials said.
Jharkhand meanwhile is perturbed with another tiger that’s also moved out of the Palamau Tiger Reserve and currently is roaming in Garhwa in the North West region of PTR. The tiger had killed a buffalo on the New Year’s day and a cattle further on 3 January. The DFO, Garhwa (South) Division, Ebin Benny Abraham told The Statesman today: “A few villagers have seen the tiger, but we haven’t got any camera grab of it as yet. We’ve already preserved some plaster of Paris impression of the tiger’s pugmarks. The last recorded kill by the tiger was on last Monday.” DFO Abraham said: “Two days ago there was a sighting of the tiger, besides, we’ve gathered scat samples of the tiger and sent those to laboratories in Dehradun and Hyderabad for further analysis and testing to understand the characteristics of the animal.”
The DFO, Garhwa (South) and the Deputy Director, PTR held a joint field inspection and interacted with the locals who’d seen the tiger.
