A Royal Bengal tigress of the Sundarbans that was seriously injured in a snare set by poachers has been returned to her natural home after nearly six months of treatment and intensive care.

She was released on 12 July at midday deep in the forest at Andharmanik, in the Chandpai range of the Sundarbans East Forest Division. The forest department has installed 20 infrared cameras to monitor her safe movement and adaptation.

According to the forest department, the tiger was rescued on 4 January from the Shorkir Khal area next to the Baiddyamari forest camp in the Sundarbans near Mongla. She had been caught in the poachers' snare four or five days before the rescue, and the snare left a severe wound on her left foreleg, leaving her sick and weak. A team of forest department experts came from Dhaka, sedated her with a tranquilliser and took her to Khulna, where she was kept at the department's wildlife rescue centre for six months and given the treatment she needed.

After making a full recovery under treatment from the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Division, the tigress was released on Sunday, six months and one week after her rescue.

Md Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, divisional forest officer of the Sundarbans East Forest Division, said 19 infrared cameras had already been installed in the area where she was released. One more camera has been placed at the spot where she was found injured.

He said the cameras, spread over about 20 square kilometres, would be used to monitor her movement, behaviour and adaptation. They will automatically record 10 seconds of video followed by 10 seconds of still images.

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury added that an adult Royal Bengal tiger usually ranges over 30 to 40 square kilometres, so the department will also watch whether she returns to her old area. She was released in forest about 20 to 25 km from where she was rescued.

He said the tigress is about 9 to 10 years old and roughly eight feet long, and this is the first time in the country that a tiger has been treated, nursed back to health and released into the Sundarbans. He called it an important achievement for the forest department in wildlife conservation.

Present at the release were Lion Dr Sheikh Faridul Islam, state minister for environment, forest and climate change; chief conservator of forests (CCF) Md Amir Hossain Chowdhury; Sanaullah Patwary, conservator of forests (CF) for the wildlife and nature conservation region; Imran Ahmed, conservator of forests for the Khulna circle; AZM Hasanur Rahman, divisional forest officer (DFO) of the Sundarbans West Forest Division; and other senior forest officials.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.