A tigress released into West Bengal’s Buxa Tiger Reserve earlier this month has crossed into Assam, prompting coordination between the two states for her safe return, Bengal forest minister Manoj Oraon said on Friday.
The approximately three-year-old tigress crossed the Sankosh river on October 23 and entered Raimona National Park in Assam, officials said. She was tracked through a radio collar, allowing forest authorities to monitor her movement after she left Buxa in Alipurduar district.
The animal had been brought from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve and released into Buxa on October 2 as part of a programme to establish a resident tiger population in the reserve. The release took place in the presence of Union forest minister Bhupender Yadav and West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Oraon said he would visit Assam and coordinate the operation to bring the tigress back. “The tigress was tracked through its radio collar today. Efforts are underway to bring it back. I will go there soon to coordinate the operation,” he told reporters.
The minister said the Forest Department was examining all possible ways to facilitate the animal’s return. Asked whether tranquiliser guns could be used, Oraon said the authorities would avoid any action that could physically harm the tigress. “We won’t do anything that will harm it physically. We are exploring all means to facilitate its smooth, safe return,” he said.
The movement highlights the administrative challenge of managing wildlife across state boundaries in a connected forest landscape. Buxa and Raimona are part of a broader ecological corridor linking forests and protected areas in north Bengal, Assam and Bhutan. Tigers and other wildlife can move across these landscapes irrespective of state borders, while their monitoring and management remain divided between different forest administrations.
Buxa had remained without a resident tiger for nearly a decade before one was spotted there in 2021. One or two further sightings were reported in subsequent years, including in January 2026. The recent release was intended to support the re-establishment of a permanent tiger population in the reserve.
The West Bengal Forest Department initiated the effort under the Tiger Augmentation and Recovery Project, with support from the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India. Buxa was declared a Tiger Reserve in 1983 and has historically been an important tiger landscape in north Bengal.
The government has described the reserve’s ecological linkages with Assam and Bhutan as important for wildlife movement and dispersal. The immediate operation will now focus on tracking the tigress and determining how she can be returned without causing physical harm, with coordination between the forest authorities of West Bengal and Assam.
