KALAIGAON, Feb 28 - A pregnant tigress, which has been taking shelter in the Dhansiri river bank area at the Borobazar village near Rowta since November 11 last year, has been a cause of great worry for both the Forest Department and the people living in and around Orang and Rowta.
The tigress which supposedly strayed out of the Orang National Park has been living in the Borobazar area for the last few months and has already killed more than 21 domestic cattle and pigs, creating a panic situation among the villagers.
The local anchalik committee of the All Bodo Students� Union (ABSU) has urged the Range Officer of Mazbat, Divisional Forest Office under Dhansiri Forest Division, Udalguri and the Orang National Park authorities for the safe translocation of the tigress.
ABSU also appealed to the Forest Department for paying immediate compensation to the villagers whose cattle and pigs were eaten by the tigress. The Bodo students� body also raised serious concern over the safety of the villagers of thirty villages located around the Borobazar village.
MK Sarma, DFO, Dhansiri Forest Division, Udalguri informed that high ranking forest officials of Assam have been asked to either capture or tranquilise it. Joint operations by the forest and veterinary departments have been launched accordingly.
Dr Bhaskar Choudhury and Dr Jahan Ahmed of WTI and Dr KK Sarma, HoD, Veterinary College, Khanapara, Guwahati made several attempts to capture it live, but the tigress evaded all traps.
A public delegation headed by Swndwn Boro, president, Borobazar Anchalik Committee of ABSU, accompanied by Charan Boro, MLA, Mazbat LAC, submitted a memorandum to State Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma on February 6 last, demanding early translocation, capture of the tigress and release of compensation to the victims� families.
Following the public petition, Brahma directed BD Gogoi, CCF, Assam to visit the village. A meeting was also held at Borobazar on February 9.
Finally, Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma along with high-level forest officials made a spot visit to the Borobazar village on February 24. Brahma assured the villagers to take necessary action without causing harm to the tigress.
She told the villagers that the tigress was pregnant and it would be fatal either to tranquilise or capture it.
The minister directed MK Sarma, DFO, Dhansiri Forest Division, Udalguri and Ramesh Gogoi, DFO, Orang National Park to form a 20-member team of villagers to monitor the movement of the tigress as well as to look into the safety of the villagers.
