Tiger finally captured,relocated to Dudhwa

Dr Utkarsh Shukla,a veterinary doctor in Lucknow zoo,darted the beast at 6.40 am in the Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture in Rehmankheda.

Mounted on elephants,three teams of experts were tracking the beast for the past four months,including a two-member team from the Wildlife Trust of India. In order to localise the tiger in the area,the forest department had been tying baits. “It killed a buffalo yesterday and had come to consume the remains of the kill when it was tranquilised,” said C P Goel,Chief Conservator of Forest,Lucknow Division.

According to their routine,the three teams on elephant backs had started their tracking at 4.30 am on Wednesday. “This morning,when the tiger came for its kill,we spotted and tranquilised it,” he Shukla.

Shukla shot two darts from a distance of approximately 10 metres,one of which missed the target. “The second one found the target and the tiger could not run away because there were elephants surrounding it,” said Shukla.

After being tranquilised,the tiger was put in a cage,which was covered in order to prevent the tiger from seeing anything and becoming aggressive. “It was given an antidote within fifteen minutes of capture. Once conscious,it would have tried to attack whatever it saw,and in the process,it would have hurt itself,” said Goel. “That is why we covered the cage and put a net around it,” he said. In order to beat the heat,the cage was drenched in water,he added.

Hearing the tiger roar during the operation,word spread in nearby villages. “Our entire village and even people from far-off areas of Malihabad and Kakori came to watch,” said Sanjay Yadav of Ulrapur village in Rehmankheda,whose buffalo had been attacked by the tiger before it was localised in the jungles.

“People wanted to see the tiger but the foresters had covered the cage. We could not see it but heard its roars,” he said.

At 10.30 am,the tiger began its journey to Dudhwa Tiger Reserve along with a team of seven-eight forest guards. “The tiger is perfectly healthy and has been released in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve where it will be radio collared and tracked for a few days,” said J S Asthana,Chief Wildlife Warden,Uttar Pradesh. “This is the first tiger to be successfully relocated in a forest area in the state,” he said.

“Dudhwa Tiger Reserve is a prime habitat for tigers and this tiger has been killing prey on its own,so it should adjust naturally in the area,” said Shailesh Prasad,Field Director of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.

Applauding the efforts of the forest department,Rahul Shukla,member of Tiger and Terrain,an NGO working for tiger conservation,said: “The tiger has been rehabilitated in South Sonaripur area of Dudhwa reserve,which does not have a dominant male tiger. This will help the young tiger make its own territory.”

The tiger is supposed to have strayed to Lucknow from the southern Kheri jungles in the last week of December. Experts believe the juvenile male was in search of its own territory but because of the dense sugarcane crop and cold weather,it strayed.