Rescue act: On tiger reintroduction in West Bengal’s Buxa
West Bengal has begun a tiger reintroduction program in the Buxa reserve, moving a tigress from Bihar as part of a larger effort to restore the population. Critics argue the program is a reactive, bureaucratic measure that fails to address underlying habitat fragmentation and human-wildlife conflict.
Why it matters
The project highlights the ongoing debate between reactive conservation efforts and the need for long-term habitat protection in India's wildlife reserves.
The first tiger to be reintroduced in West Bengal represents a triumph of bureaucracy, not ecology. After the National Tiger Conservation Authority found no tigers in the Buxa, Dampa, and Palamau reserves by 2018, it mooted a programme with the Bengal Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India that has culminated with a royal Bengal tigress caught in Bihar to be released in Buxa. She is the first of seven to be relocated over two years. Buxa is dotted with settlements and surrounded by revenue villages and tea estates. The region already hosts an elephant population routinely threatened by a railway line, with the railways also planning to restore a route to Jainti. Commercial traffic on the Bhutan-West Bengal road through Buxa is another problem. Estates are also notorious for fragmenting the landscape, including migration corridors.
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