Buxa Tiger Reserve Welcomes Tigress From Bihar, Marking Return Of Roar After Eight Years

Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal has begun a phased programme to reintroduce tigers after years without a stable resident tiger population, with a three-year-old tigress from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve released into its core area on Friday. The tigress, identified as T138, was released in the presence of Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. The move marks the first phase of West Bengal’s planned tiger reintroduction programme and coincides with the beginning of Wildlife Week 2026. Adhikari said three more tigers would be introduced into Buxa over the next two months. The programme is intended to rebuild a viable tiger population in the reserve through a combination of animal translocation, habitat improvement, prey augmentation and scientific monitoring.

Yadav announced the release in a post on X, saying the reintroduction fulfilled a significant conservation commitment and that T138 had been brought from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar to Buxa. The tigress was transported from Bihar after undergoing the procedures required for relocation and was brought to the reserve as part of a broader project planned over several years. Officials said the objective is not simply to release individual animals but to establish the ecological conditions required for tigers to settle, reproduce and eventually form a self-sustaining population. Forest Minister Manoj Oraon said additional tigers would be brought to Buxa during 2026 and 2027, followed by further introductions in subsequent years depending on the progress of the programme. The translocation is part of a five-year project covering the financial years 2023-24 to 2027-28.

Buxa has historically been an important tiger landscape in northern West Bengal and was declared a tiger reserve in 1983. The reserve is connected ecologically with forests and protected areas in Bhutan and Assam, including Manas National Park, creating a wider landscape through which wildlife can move. However, habitat degradation and fragmentation, changes in land use and declining prey availability affected the conditions needed to support a resident tiger population. Officials said genetic evidence from scat collected in 2014 had indicated the presence of tigers in the reserve, but camera-trap surveys in 2018 did not find a stable resident population. Forest officials have suggested that some tigers may have moved between Buxa, Assam’s Manas landscape and neighbouring Bhutan. Camera traps subsequently recorded tiger movement in Buxa in 2021, 2023 and 2026, including an animal photographed in 2023 that was matched to a tiger from Manas Tiger Reserve.

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Preparatory conservation work has been underway since 2018 under a tiger augmentation and recovery programme supported by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India. According to the Union Environment Ministry, more than 800 chital deer have been released into the reserve to strengthen the prey base, while about 380 hectares of grassland have been restored or converted to improve habitat conditions. Other components of the programme include strengthening wildlife corridors, improving protection and monitoring, assessing habitat suitability and reducing the possibility of human-wildlife conflict. The wider landscape is considered important because Buxa's links with forests in Assam and Bhutan can facilitate the movement and dispersal of wildlife. Authorities have therefore been assessing the reserve not only as an isolated protected area but as part of a larger interconnected ecosystem.

Following its release, T138 will be monitored intensively through telemetry, camera trapping and field-based observation. These methods will allow forest officials and conservation experts to track the tigress's movements, assess how she adapts to the new habitat and monitor her health and behaviour. Future releases will depend on scientific assessments of habitat conditions, prey availability, population viability and expert advice. The programme also includes measures intended to involve local communities. The Environment Ministry said 64 eco-development committees and joint forest management committees have been engaged, with an emphasis on community dialogue, livelihood opportunities, conflict mitigation and conservation-linked benefits. These measures are intended to address the human-wildlife interface as the tiger population is gradually rebuilt.

The release of T138 therefore represents the beginning of a longer-term conservation programme rather than an immediate restoration of a resident tiger population. Officials have said the reserve needs an adequate prey base, suitable habitat and sufficient numbers of animals to establish breeding populations over time. Adhikari has announced that three additional tigers are planned for release within the next two months, while the wider project envisages further introductions in later phases. The success of the programme will ultimately depend on whether the animals adapt, breed and remain within a landscape capable of supporting them over the long term. For now, T138's movements and health will provide the first closely monitored indicators of how the reintroduction is progressing in Buxa, a reserve that has remained without a stable resident tiger population for years.

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