Zeenat near Mukutmanipur, remains elusive as darting bids fail
Times of India | 29 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 managed to fire darts twice at three-year-old Odisha tigress Zeenat in Bankura's Gosaindihi in Ranibandh block but both turned out to be unsuccessful as the ‘darts either didn't wok or missed target'.
The operation started around 2.26 pm and the first dart was fired around 3.45 pm, said sources. Chief conservator of forest, S Kulandaivel, said: "We tracked her through drones and fired darts. 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 with forest staff staying put inside. Two from the Sundarbans team are keeping a watch from atop trees.
Work later began to add another layer of nets to the existing fencing to restrict her movement further. Late in the evening, another dart was fired but it reportedly missed target.
Meanwhile, Zeenat added a new location to its travel trajectory — Bankura — 20 days after leaving Similipal Tiger Reserve.
Early on Saturday, 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.
Though its current position remains over 50 km from Mukutmanipur tourist hub, with a huge dam intervening, 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 near 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."
A police contingent led by Bankura SP Vaibhav Tiwari set up camp since Friday night. "SDPO Khatra and two ICs of Ranibandh and Khatra deployed forces. All eyes are on 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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