Tiger Zeenat to be shifted to larger enclosure in Similipal south division pending release decision

It is being designed in such a way that a prey entering the enclosure will not be able to escape.
Tiger Zeenat
Tiger Zeenat
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BHUBANESWAR: With the tiger supplementation committee yet to decide on Zeenat’s release into the wild again, the state forest authorities have decided to shift the Tadoba tigress to Boma, a bigger enclosure in the Similipal South Division which has adequate space for her movement.

Forest authorities said Boma is a large enclosure for wildlife conservation. While the size of the present enclosure where Zeenat has been kept is less than two hectares, the size of the Boma will be eight to nine hectares.

“The construction of the Boma has already started and will be completed in next 10 to 12 days where the tigress will be kept till its release into the wild,” PCCF wildlife Prem Kumar Jha said.

It is being designed in such a way that a prey entering the enclosure will not be able to escape. This will allow Zeenat hunt her prey in a larger area and keep the wild instinct of the tigress intact during its stay in the enclosure, Jha said.

Sources said the new enclosure is being created near the existing enclosure where the three-year-old tigress is being currently held following its capture and shifting from Bankura district of West Bengal on January 1.

According to Jha, Zeenat will be released into the core of Similipal South landscape only after getting the nod from the tiger supplementation committee. However, the committee, according to sources, is waiting for the estrous cycle of the tigress, the period when it would be receptive to mating, so that it doesn’t venture out of the landscape again.

Zeenat has now spent 31 days in the enclosure. The behaviour of the tigress has though been found to be normal so far, officials said.

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