Tigress Zeenat leaves Alipore zoo for Similipal forest after month-long odyssey
Telegraph | 2 January 2025
Tigress Zeenat left the Alipore zoo on Tuesday night for Similipal in Odisha, the same forest she had escaped on December 5 and went on a month-long odyssey covering three states before being captured in Bankura on Sunday.
She was cleared for the trip back to the Similipal Tiger Reserve after spending two days at the Alipore zoo hospital, where she was under observation.
A convoy of around 10 vehicles left Alipore around 8.10pm. A vehicle carrying Zeenat bore the name of the Odisha forest department. She was taken in a transport cage mounted on the vehicle. It had cars in the front and at the back.
A team of foresters accompanied Zeenat. It included officers from the Odisha forest department, led by the field director of the Similipal Tiger Reserve, and a group of forest officers from Bengal.
“She is absolutely fine. She will reach Odisha via Kharagpur and Lodhashuli. The total journey will take more than five hours because there will be stops in between. We are providing police escort. Our officers will also accompany them till the Bengal-Odisha border. A team of vets is travelling with the tiger,” said S. Kulandaivel, chief conservator of forests, central circle, Bengal.
At the zoo, Zeenat was offered chicken, goat meat and buffalo meat but did not eat anything till Tuesday evening, said a forest official.
“She is otherwise fine. She is moving in the cage. She has had ORS,” he said.
“A medical board constituted by the state forest department certified that Zeenat is fit for the long journey. Apart from that, a high-powered, multi-stakeholder committee set up according to the guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority has said that Zeenat is fit for travel. I have no doubt that she can make it,” said Debal Ray, the chief wildlife warden of Bengal.
Zeenat was slightly dehydrated when she came to Alipore. Her temperature, pulse, appetite, energy and behaviour were monitored by a team of vets and keepers, an official said. Her blood and stool samples were tested for parasites because she had wandered close to human settlements and fed on livestock.
Once in Similipal, Zeenat will be soft-released into the park.
“A large area will be cat-fenced. The area will have a sufficient prey base. She is going to stay in the natural forest of Similipal. Once she settles down and the anxiety level is lowered, she will be hard-released (into a forest without fencing),” said a forest official.