Tigress Zeenat in Odisha.
| Photo Credit: Vithushan
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (January 6, 2025) expressed her displeasure over tigress Zeenat — rescued from south Bengal by State forest officials — having to return to Similipal Tiger Reserve.
“In the future, the Odisha government should send their teams to rescue tigers that stray into the State,” she suggested.
Ms. Banerjee, who was visiting Sagar Island during the day, said that another tiger had crossed over to south Bengal from Odisha and was posing a threat to the locals.
“I will urge the Odisha government, please send your rescue team and rescue the tiger. Every time do not blame us. For five days our people suffered and the forest department rescued the animal without harm. But after rescue you wanted that tiger to be returned. Now another tiger has entered,” Ms. Banerjee said.
On December 31, Zeenat was returned to Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha from Kolkata Zoological Gardens. Zeenat entered West Bengal on December 19 and travelled across three districts, evading multiple attempts of capture. The animal was finally tranquilised and captured in Bankura on December 29.
‘Send us tigers forever’
The Chief Minister urged the Odisha government to ensure that tigers from the neighbouring State did not enter West Bengal. Addressing the Odisha government, she said, “You will take care of your own forests? So that your tigers do not enter ours, so that panic does not spread in my village.”
Ms. Banerjee also added that if a tiger was sent from Odisha, it should be sent forever. “We are keeping it. If you don’t have space, we have a tiger rescue center, deep forests. We can keep it,” she added.
The forests of south Bengal have no reports of a tiger population and the mangrove forests of Sundarbans have about 100 tigers. Sources said that the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had written a letter to the West Bengal government, seeking the release of the captured tiger and questioned why the rescued tiger was taken to Kolkata Zoological Gardens when Similipal was only a few hundred kilometres away. In 2018, when a tiger from Jharkhand had strayed into south Bengal, it was killed by locals.
The Chief Minister also expressed concerns about the elephant problem in south Bengal, claiming that its rising population was posing a challenge for forest officials. The fragmented forests of south Bengal are home to about 200 elephants and often, there are reports of human-elephant conflicts in the region.
Published – January 06, 2025 10:26 pm IST