Escaped tigress flees Buxa reserve again

Guwahati: Dooars Rani is on the run. The three-year-old tigress bolted from her acclimatisation enclosure at the Buxa Tiger Reserve on Sunday, November 9, marking her second escape in under a month. She bypassed a two-foot thick, four-foot deep concrete foundation by digging a tunnel beneath the perimeter fence. Staff realized she was missing at 2 pm.

The tigress, originally from Bihar's Valmiki Tiger Reserve, has a working radio collar. Officials tracked her past the Bala river toward the 27-mile forest village. She is currently moving toward Assam, complicating a West Bengal relocation program already under fire for its failing security. Her last escape saw her travel 100 km before a joint team tranquilized her in the Kokrajhar district on November 3. Forest officials admit the pursuit is difficult because "tracking her has proved challenging as she sometimes moves through areas with poor radio signal reception inside the forest."

Search teams are hitting the brush. Sixty guards and three elephants are combing the territory for the cat. Experts are now questioning the safety of the Buxa facility after these repeat breakouts.