Cameras click fresh tiger pics in Purulia; big cat moves closer to Jharkhand

Kolkata/Purulia: Fresh images of a tiger were captured in a Purulia forest early on Sunday morning, sending the forest teams back on the big cat's trail.
Later in the afternoon, foresters found its trail towards Jharkhand, where it presumably came from.
Though wild boar kills were discovered during Saturday operations inside Raika-Bhararia hills, the tiger remained elusive.
However, early-morning pugmarks on Sunday revealed the big cat's presence and its subsequent crossing of the Bandwan-Kuilipal Road towards Ankro village along Manbazar-Bandwan Road, where its pugmarks were spotted near a potato field.
Odisha tigress Zeenat followed a similar route in Purulia before entering adjoining Bankura district from Gopalpur. But later, foresters found pugmarks of the big cat near Jamunagorah village beneath Raika hills, indicating its return.
Later, camera-trapped images were also found near Raika hills.
Chief conservator of forest S Kulandaivel said: "As per its pugmarks at Ghatihuli forest, it was approximately 2-3 kilometres from Jharkhand on Sunday afternoon." According to him, teams with 300 forest staff have been tracking the big cat since Sunday morning.
"In last few years, green cover in this region has improved. But since people here are not habituated to seeing tigers, we are trying to capture it safely," he added.
According to Ujjwal Sinha, tiger cell head at National Tiger Conservation Authority, if the images are submitted to NTCA where there's database of camera-trapped images across India, then the stripe patterns can be examined to determine if they match with any individual tiger in the database. "But we don't have any information on this tiger movement yet," he added.
Regarding corridors facilitating movement of big cats in the region, Sinha said that earlier in March 2024, tiger movement was recorded from Bandhavgarh to Sanjay Dubri, both in MP, to as far as forests of Chhattisgarh and then Palamau in Jharkhand. "From there, the tiger moved towards Odisha's Bonai forest division in Sundargarh district. It presumably covered 1,000 km from MP and was photo-captured in Toda reserve forest of Odisha," he added.
According to reports, Palamau Tiger Reserve remains significant as it maintains corridor connectivity both to the west, with Bandhavgarh through Semarsot-timor Pingla Guru Ghasidas Sanjay Tiger Reserve and to the east, with Gautam Buddha and Koderma through Lawalong Wildlife Sanctuaries.
This connectivity positions Palamau as a potential source population for the future revitalisation of the landscape with tigers and other endangered species.