West Bengal steps up efforts to bring back tigress that strayed into Assam

BTR-TF-1 (T-138), crossed the Sankosh River and a road in Gosaigaon in Assam to enter Raimona on October 25, 2026, mostly in search of suitable habitat. File photo: X/@byadavbjp

The West Bengal government is planning to bring back a tigress that was released in the Buxa Tiger Reserve and later strayed into Assam.

The three-year-old tigress, BTR-TF-1 (T-138), was released in Buxa on October 2 from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve as part of the State’s first tiger relocation project. However, the tigress crossed into Assam on Sunday (October 25, 2026) in search of a suitable habitat. 

West Bengal Forest Minister Manoj Oraon said that he and officers of the department will visit Assam on Saturday (October 31, 2026) to inspect the tigress’s movement and health condition.

“Our team has already been coordinating with Assam’s Forest Department to monitor the tigress. However, I am personally visiting Raimona tomorrow and will finalise the necessary plan to tranquilise and bring her back to Buxa,” he said.

According to the officials, the tigress crossed the Sankosh River and a road in Gosaigaon in Assam to enter Raimona on Sunday (October 25, 2026), mostly in search of suitable habitat. So far, her movement area has been traced 25 km away from the Bengal border. 

Forest officials from Assam and West Bengal, along with a team from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), initially decided to let her explore the surroundings and choose a suitable habitat. However, efforts are now underway to bring her back to Bengal’s territory. 

Mr. Oraon said that the tigress is healthy and is also hunting animals. 

Also read | Reintroduction of tigers in Buxa: What it means for conservation | Explained

On October 2, the tigress was translocated from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve and released in the presence of Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Mr. Adhikari said three more tigers would be released in Buxa in the next two months, and the initiative would not only help in conservation of wildlife but also in boosting tourism in the region.

Buxa was declared a tiger reserve in 1983, and over the past few years there have been no reports of tiger presence in the region. According to an official statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the recovery of Buxa has been a sustained, science-based effort, and the Tiger Augmentation and Recovery Project, initiated by the Government of West Bengal with support from the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), has been implemented collaboratively since 2018.

Forest officials say this new tigress from Bihar will be subjected to intensive post-release monitoring using a combination of telemetry, camera trapping and field-based monitoring to assess her movement, adaptation, health and behaviour.

Published - October 31, 2026 11:09 am IST