Tigress brought from Bihar for reintroduction in West Bengal’s Buxa Tiger Reserve

West Bengal is preparing to reintroduce a tiger to Buxa Tiger Reserve in the north of the state, in an attempt to establish a population outside the Sundarbans.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav are scheduled to release a tigress, aged more than three years, into an enclosure at Buxa on October 2.

The animal was brought from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve ahead of the planned reintroduction.

The move follows the identification of Buxa as a priority landscape for tiger recovery by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) after the BJP came to office in the state.

However, some wildlife experts have questioned whether the reserve is ready for the reintroduction, citing concerns over its prey base, habitat quality and human presence. Others have emphasised the need to work closely with local communities if the programme is to succeed.

Tigress to be acclimatised before release

West Bengal Environment and Forest Minister Manoj Oraon said the tigress would initially be kept in an enclosed area of about 2.3 hectares rather than being released directly into the wild.

The process, known as a “soft release”, is intended to allow the animal to acclimatise to its new surroundings before it is released into the wider reserve.

“We have plans to introduce two to three more tigers in phases to augment the tiger population,” Oraon said. An earlier proposal for the reintroduction, prepared about a decade ago, said at least six tigers would be required to establish a viable population.

Responding to concerns about possible conflict between people and the tiger, Oraon said forest department staff would closely monitor the animal, which would be fitted with a radio collar.

“We have undertaken the awareness programmes actively and are also in the process of shifting the villages located within the Buxa forest area over time,” he said.

Is Buxa ready for tigers?

Several wildlife experts have raised concerns about whether the conditions in Buxa are suitable for sustaining a tiger population. “Bengal should not be in a hurry to reintroduce tigers in Buxa,” said Qamar Qureshi, a professor at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). Qureshi said reintroductions required adequate preparation and pointed to the differing experiences of Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan and Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha.

“Sariska had zero tigers in 2008, three were reintroduced in 2008, and the present number is 56; a success story because both the prey base and habitat were ready for the reintroduction,” he said.

“However, Satkosia, which also had one tiger in 2018 and introduced two more that same year, does not have a single tiger now because its habitat was not ready. Buxa may go the same way if the tiger reintroduction is done in a hurry and not planned well.”

YV Jhala, a wildlife scientist and former dean of WII, described Buxa as a landscape with significant potential for tiger recovery, but said careful habitat management was needed before reintroduction.

Prey base under scrutiny

A 2004 census recorded about 70 tigers in north Bengal, according to the information provided for this report, but Buxa’s resident tiger population had disappeared by the late 1990s.

Successful reintroduction requires both sufficient prey and suitable habitat, experts said. “It generally needs eight to 10 years; I do not think Buxa is ready for it yet,” Qureshi said.

An NTCA document on tiger habitats, accessed by this correspondent, indicated declining prey availability and habitat quality in Buxa.

Human activity within the reserve is another concern.

“Even more than the prey base, the habitat is a challenge, as the core area still has several villages and a lot of human movement,” a forest department official said.

Villages remain in core area

Residents of two villages have so far been relocated, while the relocation of a third is under way. Another 11 villages remain in the core area, according to the forest department official.

The official said many residents had accepted the relocation package, although some opposed moving. Under the package, each family unit — defined as a husband and wife, or an unmarried adult man or woman — receives Rs 15 lakh and eight decimals of land, equivalent to about four to five kathas. An extended family comprising three such units would therefore receive a total of Rs 45 lakh and about 24 decimals of land.

Pradeep Vyas, a retired senior forest official in West Bengal, said he had initiated the proposal to reintroduce tigers in Buxa and that it was cleared by an NTCA steering committee in 2016-17, but had subsequently been delayed.

Vyas said establishing a tiger population would be difficult without stronger livelihood support for communities and greater awareness among residents.

Biswajit Roy Choudhury, a wildlife expert associated with a West Bengal-based non-profit organisation, also raised concerns about security within the reserve.

“The security issues in Buxa tiger forest also need to be resolved properly, otherwise the reintroduction may face problems,” he said.

Forest department confident of reintroduction

Forest officials, however, said preparations for the programme had been under way for several years.

“We are confident that we will be able to carry out the experiment successfully,” a senior forest department official in north Bengal said.

Another official acknowledged that restoring tigers to a landscape from which they had disappeared presented challenges.

“Reintroduction of a tiger is a challenge in itself as there must be reasons why it disappeared in the first place,” the official said.

“But the study and work for the reintroduction have been continuing for the past eight years, and the NTCA has taken the decision based on that.”