Tezpur: This is an amazing account of a displaced tiger, which attacked three persons, went to jail, and was released without bail! On 6 February, the Director, Kaziranga National Park in the north east Indian Assam state, received an emergency call from the Conservator, Western Assam Circle (Tezpur) that an adult tiger had strayed into an inhabited locality in Tezpur town on the bank of the Brahmaputra River. After it had killed one person and mauled two others, it took shelter in a thatch hut.
The Wildlife Trust of India-run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation, which is supported by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, was immediately informed and centre veterinarian, Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, accompanied the team, which also included Guwahati Zoo veterinarians.
“The news of a tiger entering Tezpur had spread like wildfire and thousands of people had collected around the spot making the rescue operation extremely difficult,” Dr Choudhary said. It needed two darts in a span of 30 minutes to induce the required anaesthesia. The team finally waited for another 15 minutes before approaching the tiger through the window. “We kept clapping our hands and throwing stones and later even poking it with a bamboo pole to make sure that it was unconscious. The tiger was an adult male approx. 12-13 years old. It had sustained minor bruises and cuts in the body. It was 9.6 feet long from the nose tip to the tail tip, 3.6 feet tall at the shoulder, and weighed about 180/190 kg,” he said.
However, here came the twist in the tale. The truck carrying the transit crate for the tiger from Kaziranga National Park broke down halfway at a point where they could not immediately communicate with the rescue team. Unaware of this breakdown, the rescue team tied cotton ropes to the animal’s legs and carried it on a gunny bag stretcher to a point where they were supposed to wait for the stretcher to arrive.
Then began the long wait for the crate to arrive. Meanwhile, to the panic of the rescue team the tiger started showing signs of waking up. The only way out now was to move the tiger to the local police lock up. The still snoozing tiger was bundled into the prisoners van and carried to the prisoner’s cell. When the crate arrived three hours later, the tiger was fully awake and creating havoc in the jail. In trying to escape it tore down the bathroom door, damaged the iron grill and even the concrete walls. It was decided to wait till early morning to re-tranquilise it.
As the animal had sustained injuries in the paws and forehead it was not advisable to release it immediately. It was also unclear where it came from and why it was displaced. Considering the pros and cons of the situation, the team decided to transport it to the Guwahati Zoo for further care and treatment. In the morning the animal was re-tranquilised and sent on its way.
his is probably the first instance in north-east India where a displaced tiger was rescued live. Earlier instances have almost always resulted in the animals being shot.
Photo by: Goutam Chatterjee
