Caught in kitchen garden net, rescued tiger cub returned to the wild in Assam

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Wildlife veterinarians treated a male wild elephant with a spear-induced wound on its left foreleg and corneal opacity in the left eye. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A tiger cub, rescued from a house in Assam’s Biswanath district on September 17, has been released in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.

The forelimbs of the cub, estimated to be three months old, were found entangled in a kitchen garden net behind the house in Natungaon village. Officials said the cub could have wandered into the village after getting separated from its mother because of strong river currents.

A rescue team surveyed the neighbouring riverine islands to locate the mother. It subsequently shifted the cub to the Central Range Office of Kaziranga’s Biswanath Division for veterinary observation. C. Ramesh, Kaziranga’s Field Director, said the team transported the cub to an upstream riverine island based on information and evidence indicating that a mother with cubs was present in the area recently.

Before returning, the team installed a camera trap at the release site to gather evidence of an adult tigress in the area. They moved the cub to a more secure location after a drone survey showed that the rising water levels posed a risk to the carnivore.

“On September 23, we found pugmark evidence about 200 metres from where the cub was released. Camera-trap monitoring will continue over the next few weeks,” Panjit Basumatary of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) said.

Earlier, a team comprising WTI and Assam Forest Department specialists treated an injured male wild elephant sighted at Kacharigaon Tea Estate in Sonitpur district. The elephant was found to have a spear-related injury on its left foreleg, resulting in severe swelling. The animal also had corneal opacity in its left eye, with suspected partial loss of vision.

The elephant was chemically immobilised, and the pus-filled wounds on its injured left foreleg were cleaned and dressed. The affected left eye was also cleaned and dressed, followed by a subconjunctival injection.

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