GUWAHATI: On December 20, a team of forest rangers rescued a fully grown male Royal Bengal Tiger from the Umananda Temple premises in North Guwahati.
"The animal is thought to be between 8 and 10 years old. But only after identification can it be determined," Aswini Kumar, divisional forest officer (DFO), said at the Assam State Zoo and Botanical Garden.
When a group of workers building the Umananda Temple's border wall spotted the animal swimming across the Brahmaputra, they promptly alerted the forest authorities.
The animal then took shelter at the cleft of the rock on the premises of the temple.
After a prolonged operation of several hours by the team of forest personnel with the help of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and local police personnel the animal was finally captured at around 5.30 pm
Dr. Bijay Gogoi of Assam State Zoo and Botanical carried out the darting operation which proved successful and the animal was finally captured. It was then taken to the Assam State Zoo for required health checks and care.
The animal is yet to be identified and matched with the help of photo recognition software to know its origin of migration.
“The forest personnel of Guwahati Range organised the protection duty and the transportation operation smoothly during the rescue of the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger without any harm,” said Pranjal Baruah, Range Officer, Guwahati Forest Range.