Zeenat near Mukutmanipur, remains elusive as darting bid fails
Times of India | 28 December 2024
123456 Purulia/Bankura/Jhargram/Kolkata: After tracking for over 24 hours since Friday afternoon in Purulia's Manbazar II range, the forest dept teams from Odisha and Bengal finally managed to fire a dart at three-year-old Odisha tigress Zeenat in Bankura's Gosaindihi in Ranibandh block but it turned out to be an unsuccessful bid as the ‘dart either didn't wok or missed target'.
The operation started around 2.26 pm and the dart was fired around 3.45 pm, said sources. Chief conservator of forest, S Kulandaivel, said: "We tracked her through drones and fired a dart. But we can't say if it had hit the tigress. This is not a dense forest and we hope to track her soon."
The area, where the tigress was located, was surrounded by two layers of nylon nets with four tracker teams, an earthmover carrying forest staff staying put inside. Two from the Sundarbans team are keeping a watch from atop trees.
Later in evening, work began to add another layer of nets to the existing fencing to restrict her movement further.
Meanwhile, Zeenat added a new location to its travel trajectory — Bankura — 20 days after leaving Similipal Tiger Reserve.
Early on Saturday morning, it ventured into Bankura and moved towards tourist destination Mukutmanipur, which witnessed a visitor count exceeding 6,000 till Saturday afternoon. The administration has already banned tourist entry into nearby Banpukuria Deer Park, which tourists often visit via boats from Mukutmanipur.
Although its current position remains over 50 km from Mukutmanipur tourist hub, with a huge dam intervening, forest officials exercised caution and attempted to restrict its movement within a confined area using nylon nets. They repositioned nets at least thrice since Saturday morning.
Five families, too, have been reportedly shifted from Gosaindihi where the tracking operation was underway.
As the tigress was located in close proximity to the vast Mukutmanipur reservoir and the deer park, forest officials considered it was unlikely that it would traverse the water body.
On Saturday morning, Zeenat was located in a Bankura village adjacent to Kangsabati reservoir and Purulia's Manbazar. Forest personnel from Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, Sundarbans and Odisha have been monitoring the tigress.
Bankura south divisional forest officer Pradip Bauri said: "It is in Gopalpur — northward of Mukutmanipur dam and approximately 80 km from the tourist hub and merely 8 km from Purulia's Manbazar."
Given the densely populated landscape, a police contingent led by Bankura SP Vaibhav Tiwari established camp since Friday night. "SDPO Khatra and two ICs of Ranibandh and Khatra deployed forces. We remain vigilant and are monitoring Mukutmanipur due to tourist presence," Tiwari said.
Bipul Sahu and Tapas Mandal, lodge owners in Mukutmanipur, said that several tourists from Kolkata cancelled reservations on Saturday after watching television reports about tiger presence in the vicinity.
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