Tigress T138 has been released in West Bengal’s Buxa Tiger Reserve, marking the beginning of a phased Tiger Reintroduction Programme aimed at restoring a viable tiger population in the reserve.
The tigress was translocated from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve and released on October 2 in the presence of Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Editorial Insight
Key Highlights
Important points readers should notice.
Tigress T138 has been released in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal.
T138 was translocated from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar.
The release marks the first phase of the Tiger Reintroduction Programme in Buxa.
Post-release monitoring will use telemetry, camera trapping and field observations.
Further augmentation will depend on scientific assessment and ecological conditions.
Bhupender Yadav said the release fulfilled the promise to reintroduce tigers in Buxa and thanked the Chief Ministers of Bihar and West Bengal for their support.
Buxa Tiger Reserve, declared a tiger reserve in 1983, has historically been an important tiger landscape in North Bengal. The reserve is connected ecologically with forests and protected areas in Bhutan and Assam.
The Tiger Augmentation and Recovery Project has been implemented in Buxa since 2018 with support from the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India. The project focuses on habitat improvement, prey-base augmentation, protection, monitoring and scientific assessment.
Editorial Analysis
Why This Matters
The programme seeks to restore a viable tiger population in Buxa while strengthening the reserve’s wider ecological landscape.
According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, more than 800 chital have been released to supplement the prey base, while around 380 hectares of grassland have been restored or converted over the past eight years.
The release of T138 is the first phase of the planned recovery programme. The tigress will undergo intensive post-release monitoring through telemetry, camera trapping and field-based observations to assess her movement, adaptation, health and behaviour.
Further tiger augmentation will be carried out in phases based on habitat and prey availability, protection preparedness, population viability, monitoring outcomes and expert advice.
