“We tried to chase out the sub adult tiger, but it was adamant. It refused to move out of the kitchen. After hours of our initial efforts, we decided to tranquilize the animal."
Till last evening, this two-year-old sub-adult Royal Bengal Tiger was wandering around Deupani area of Kaziranga National Park. The flood waters this year have inundated almost 100% of the heritage park, driving the big cats out of the tiger project (habitat). The vigilant forest guards have been maintaining a round the clock watch on their movement, at times trying their best to drive them back into the forest area.
By evening as it started growing dark, the guards tried to burst crackers in a bid to drive them away. The attempt was successful as one of the tigers moved into the darkness of the adjoining hills. After an hour when things settled, the younger of the two tigers crossed over the highway and took shelter in the flooded courtyard of Prabin Bora.
“The tiger was hiding behind the plantains. Only the head and its back was visible in the water. The forest people tried their best to chase it away. They fired a couple of rounds in the air, also tried bursting crackers for the second time in the day but the tiger was unmoved. It was in the evening when I went the kitchen, I could see the tiger inside the kitchen," said Bora. "I had left the kitchen door ajar due to the flood water, the tiger entered through it. It was sitting on the floor with its back towards me. Though scared, I somehow managed to shut the door and hurriedly informed the forest guards who were still patrolling on the highway.”
The Sub Divisional Officer (Civil) evacuated the nine-member Bora family to the nearby IB for the night. On Wednesday morning, the tiger was still inside Bora’s kitchen. Park officials and members of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Care were on their duty right from the morning.
According to Dr Samsul of CWRC, the initial plan was to chase the tiger away to the adjacent Karbi Anlong hills.
"We tried out best, our men climbed on to the roof top where a better view of the tiger was possible. A few crackers were burst and attempts were made to shoo away the animal with long poles thought the roof top," he said. "The tiger was unmoved. It somehow believed that the kitchen possibly was the best place to save itself. Both from the flood water and form the crowd that followed it."
"We now needed to move to our plan B. One good thing the tiger did was that it moved to a more convenient and approachable place inside the kitchen. With no other options left, we decided to tranquilize it. I shot the dart. A single shot worked and in the next half an hour the sub-adult tiger was sedate,” he said, adding the rescue operation lasted around seven hours.
The tiger currently is in the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Rescue and stay there for some time. Once it comes out of the trauma of separation, it will be released back to its habitat, said Samsul.
Meanwhile Bora’s family is back in their house, preparing for their evening meal in the kitchen which sheltered a distressed tiger.
According to park authorities, three tigers have been spotted moving out of the flooded park. The forest guard managed to chase one back, while another crossed over to the opposite Karbi Anglong hills and the youngest was rescued today.
The Kaziranga National Park, which also adds up as the National Tiger Project, has the highest density of Royal Bengal Tigers in India with 121. The nation’s only Golden tigers have also been spotted in Kaziranga.
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