[ca_topic source_url=”https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?PRID=2318110®=48&lang=1″ subject=”Environment”]
Context: Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and West Bengal Chief Minister released the first tigress—translocated from Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve—into Buxa Tiger Reserve to mark Wildlife Week 2026.
About Buxa Tiger Reserve:
What it is?
- A major protected area and biodiversity hotspot in the Dooars region of West Bengal, covering 760.87 sq km, including 390.58 sq km core and 370.29 sq km buffer.
Background:
- Protected Status: Buxa was notified as India’s 15th Tiger Reserve in 1983 and subsequently declared a National Park in 1997.
- Tiger Population Decline: Once supporting resident tigers, Buxa experienced local decline due to habitat fragmentation, high biotic pressure and depletion of its natural prey base.
Key Features:
- Moist Tropical Altitudinal Gradient: Extending from the plains to about 1,750 metres, Buxa supports moist tropical forests with over 350 tree species and 144 orchid species.
- Transboundary Corridors: Buxa connects with Bhutan’s Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary, Jaldapara National Park, Assam’s Ripu Reserve Forest and Manas Tiger Reserve, creating an important transboundary wildlife landscape.
- Rich Faunal Diversity: The reserve supports Asian elephants, gaur, clouded leopards, leopard cats, marbled cats and dholes, while its hill streams provide habitat for mahseer fish.
- High Biotic Pressure: With 37 forest villages and large populations around adjoining tea estates, Eco-Development Committees play an important role in conservation and human-wildlife conflict mitigation.
About Tiger Reintroduction Programme
What it is?
- A scientific conservation programme involving the translocation, acclimatisation, release and monitoring of tigers to restore a self-sustaining breeding population in their historical range.
Institutional Framework:
- NTCA Framework: Tiger reintroduction follows guidelines under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, with the National Tiger Conservation Authority providing the institutional conservation framework.
- Buxa Recovery Project: The Tiger Augmentation and Recovery Project began in 2018 through collaboration between the West Bengal Forest Department, NTCA and Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
Aim: It seeks to restore a self-sustaining tiger population by improving prey availability, habitat quality and connectivity while strengthening coexistence with local communities.
Key Features:
- Scientific Selection: The programme uses habitat viability assessment and genetic mapping to identify suitable founder tigers, particularly young animals capable of establishing new breeding territories.
- Prey & Habitat Restoration: Since 2018, over 800 chital have been released and around 380 hectares of degraded grassland restored to strengthen the reserve’s prey base.
- Soft Release & Monitoring: Tigers undergo acclimatisation in soft-release enclosures before release and are subsequently monitored through telemetry collars, camera traps and veterinary surveillance.
- Community-Centric Governance: JFMCs and Eco-Development Committees support conservation through local employment, livestock-loss compensation and measures to reduce human-tiger conflict.
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