Tigress Relocated to Buxa Tiger Reserve in Major Revival Programme

Gist A three-year-old tigress, designated T138, was successfully translocated from Bihar to West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve, initiating a phased reintroduction programme. This move aims to re-establish a viable, breeding tiger population in a region that had lost its resident big cats to habitat degradation and prey depletion. For aspirants, this highlights the collaborative efforts of national and state statutory bodies in wildlife restoration and emphasizes the strategic importance of transboundary ecological linkages in conservation. Background Buxa Tiger Reserve was officially designated as a tiger reserve in 1983 . Over the decades, the reserve lost its resident tiger population due to severe habitat degradation, fragmentation, changing land-use patterns, and a shrinking prey base. To reverse this ecological decline, the Government of West Bengal , in collaboration with the National Tiger Conservation Authority NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India WII , launched the Tiger Augmentation and Recovery Project in 2018 . The project represents a shift from passive protection to active, science-based ecological restoration, aiming to create conditions where apex predators can naturally thrive. Key Pointers The translocation of the…