A tiger, radio-collared in the Sunderbans of India, was discovered in Bangladesh’s component of the mangroves following undertaking a journey of about a one hundred kilometres more than the course of 4 months. During its lengthy journey to the neighbouring nation, the massive cat crossed many obstacles – which includes a handful of rivers, some of them wider than a kilometre, West Bengal’s chief wildlife warden VK Yadav was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
The male tiger had been radio-collared in December 2020 to assistance foresters track its movement and assess tiger-human interaction.
During its 4 month journey to Bangladesh, the tiger did not venture into any human habitats, stated Mr Yadav.
“After initial movements for a few days on the Indian side, it started venturing into the Talpatti island in Bangladesh Sunderbans and crossed rivers such as Choto, Harikhali, Boro Harikhali and even the Raimangal,” Mr Yadav stated. He added that the tiger could initially have come from Bangladesh ahead of forest officials captured him for tagging.
Indian Forest Service officer Parveen Kaswan, who had shared data about the radio-collaring of the tiger last year, shared an update on the massive cat this morning. “This tiger covered 100 km and reached Bangladesh from India. Without visa though. Crossed creeks, islands and ocean,” he wrote on Twitter.
Mr Kaswan had shared a image of the collared tiger on the microblogging platform last year. Take a look:
That beauty in worlds biggest mangrove forest. Wildlife wing of WB forest division in collaboration with WWF ‘radio collared’ a male tiger and released in Sundarban Tiger Reserve for Assessing Tiger-Human interactions by means of RadioTelemetry. Courtesy CWLW. pic.twitter.com/cGDsjVeeLU
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) December 27, 2020
VK Yadav shared additional data about the tiger’s journey with Times of India. According to him, involving December 27 and May 11, the tiger moved across 3 islands: Harinbhanga and Khatuajhuri in the Indian Sunderbans, and Talpatti island in Bangladesh.
After May 11, the radio collar stopped providing signals. The tiger’s last recorded place was Talpatti island in Bangladesh.
“The gadget also had a mortality sensor, which gives signals in case of the tiger’s death. But that didn’t happen. We also didn’t get any static signal from the collar, which points that the tiger is safe,” stated Mr Yadav, adding that the collar had probably slipped off the tiger’s neck.