In a major step towards reviving the tiger population in West Bengal’s Buxa Tiger Reserve, a tigress was released into the reserve on Sunday in the presence of Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
The release, coinciding with Wildlife Week 2026, marks the beginning of a phased Tiger Reintroduction Program aimed at establishing a viable and self-sustaining tiger population in the reserve.
Following the release, Yadav said in a social media post that the initiative was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on landscape conservation and species protection. He also thanked Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Adhikari for supporting the reintroduction programme.
Declared a tiger reserve in 1983, Buxa has historically been an important tiger habitat in North Bengal and is ecologically connected with forests and protected areas in Assam and Bhutan. However, habitat degradation and fragmentation, changes in land use and a decline in prey availability led to the prolonged absence of a stable resident tiger population.
Efforts to restore the reserve have been underway for several years. The Tiger Augmentation and Recovery Project, initiated by the West Bengal government with support from the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India, has been implemented since 2018.
The project has focused on habitat restoration, increasing the prey base, strengthening protection and monitoring, scientific assessment and capacity building.
More than 800 chital have been released in the reserve to augment the prey base, while around 380 hectares of grassland have been restored or developed over the past eight years. Scientific monitoring has also shown an improvement in prey abundance.
Camera traps have recorded tiger presence in Buxa in 2021, 2023 and 2026. A tiger photographed in 2023 was matched with an individual from Assam’s Manas Tiger Reserve, indicating natural movement between adjoining tiger landscapes.
The tigress released on Sunday was translocated from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve after ecological, veterinary and management assessments. Its movement, health, adaptation and behavior will be closely monitored through telemetry, camera traps and field surveillance.
Officials said the program was aimed not merely at releasing tigers but at creating conditions that would allow them to establish territories, breed and eventually form a self-sustaining population. Further releases will be considered in phases depending on habitat and prey availability, protection preparedness, monitoring results and expert advice.
Community participation is also a key component of the initiative. As many as 64 Eco-Development Committees and Joint Forest Management Committees have been involved, with emphasis on livelihood opportunities, mitigating human-wildlife conflict and ensuring conservation-linked benefits.
The restoration of Buxa is considered significant beyond the reserve because of its ecological connectivity with North Bengal, Assam and Bhutan, which provides important corridors for wildlife movement and dispersal.
