Bhubaneswar: While selecting tigress Zeenat in Tadoba-Andheri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, Odisha wildlife personnel, particularly from Similipal, who camped there for months, observed that Zeenat would never be impressed or affected by human presence, a significant trait in a wild cat to pick for translocation.
The same was also observed during its dispersion phase, as she consistently avoided humans despite straying very close to human habitation. This is also one of the factors that worked in favour of the wildlife wing to rewild it successfully after it was brought back from West Bengal. Contrarily, in 2018, during the first inter-state tiger translocation, no Odisha wildlife personnel had camped there for assessment, and observation of tiger behavior, movement and hunting habits, officials said.
“We had prepared a basic checklist starting from the tiger’s age to history of conflict, human imprint and diet. Then shortlisted a group of young tigresses. Among them, we got Zeenat. During its movement in Jharkhand and West Bengal, it never got into conflict with people. Although people were moving all around, it always remained in hiding, avoiding any contact with people,” said a Similipal Tiger Reserve official.
During the time Zeenat spent in the forests of Jharkhand, an attempt had been made to tranquilise it. “In one incident in Jharkhand, during the effort to tranquilise the tigress, a dart was shot, and it hit it. Assuming the tigress must have been sedated, the team moved forward as it lay motionless. But as the team reached near, the tigress sprang and leapt away without harming anybody. It was later found the medicine delivery failed even after the dart hit the animal. In another case in West Bengal, then deputy director of Similipal north division Sai Kiran took position in the bucket of an excavator to tranquilise Zeenat. In a surprise move, the tigress jumped out of the bush into the air almost 12 feet and tried to reach the person in the bucket. The paw had missed Kiran by a whisker,” said Simlipal field director Prakash Gogineni.
Interestingly, Odisha wildlife personnel faced a serious crisis in Tadoba in accepting the Vidarbha variety of food. As a result, the Odisha wildlife wing had to supply ‘Jhal muri’ to its personnel who were camping there. “We had to send ‘muri’ in bulk to our people, who were all basically from Mayurbhanj district, famous for puffed rice,” Gogineni added.
