Cameras click wandering ‘Jharkhand’ tiger, first photo record from Purulia
Times of India | 18 January 2025
123456 Kolkata/Purulia: A photograph in the predawn hours of Saturday from one of the trap cameras beneath a hilly forest of Purulia provided the district its first photographic evidence of tiger.
This also marks the second instance in less than a month that a big cat has been found in the forests of Purulia after tigress Zeenat.
On Friday night, the tiger, presumably a male entering from Jharkhand on Jan 12, traversed to the Bankura border and returned to Purulia's Bhararia hills early on Saturday morning when the image was captured.
Later in the evening, the foresters organised 14 teams with a total 300 members to locate and sedate the big cat. However, the tiger couldn't be located and operation had to be abandoned after 5 pm.
Its photograph and other genetic samples will be sent to Wildlife Institute of India to determine its origin, said S Kulandaivel, chief conservator of forest.
Missing cows from Kendapara village since Monday evening and subsequent discovery of three cow carcasses prompted forest department to intensify its search since Tuesday.
Additionally, direct sightings by two villagers, on Tuesday and Friday, confirmed the big cat's presence in the hills of Raika-Bhararia.
"We deployed additional trap and surveillance cameras and positioned more cages in the vicinity to locate and trap the big cat safely," said Kulandaivel.
On Friday evening, a local villager on his motorcycle spotted the big cat crossing Bandwan-Kuilipal road. Subsequently, its pugmarks were discovered in forests nearer to the Bankura border. "Early on Saturday, it returned to the Bhararia hills," said a forester.
On Friday, biological samples of an "Alipore zoo tigress" were sprayed along the likely routes the tiger had been taking and on the trap cages.
While sources suggested this could possibly be the same tiger spotted in Jharkhand's Chandil division and later in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, some indicated the possibility of the tiger arriving from Odisha's Similipal, too.
"Tigers are exceptional explorers. These corridors existed previously but substantial fragmentation and mining here rendered them almost defunct. Nevertheless, these corridors are providing sanctuary to these big cats that movement of tigers has been recorded twice on this route in less than a month. One should examine the present status of corridors between Similipal, Dalma and Bengal's Jangalmahal areas," said Qamar Qureshi, a retired scientist of Wildlife Institute of India.
Like Odisha tigress Zeenat, that entered Bengal on Dec 20 and captured on Dec 29, this tiger also followed the elephant corridors, as evident from its pugmarks, both during and after entering Bengal. Forest patches like Jharkhand's Gobarghushi, Jamdih and Purulia's Gangamanna where pugmarks were found are elephant corridors. Similarly in Bengal, its route from Banspahari in Jhargram to Raika hills in Purulia via Mayurjharna are also traditional jumbo corridors.
Dec 31 | Tiger presence in Jharkhand's Chandil div
Jan 1st week | Presence in Dalma sanctuary
Jan 12 | Pugmarks in Purulia's Gangamanna and Jhargram's Banspahari