Injured Royal Bengal Tiger released in Sunderbans after treatment

While an injured Royal Bengal tiger was released in the wild after treatment in Sunderbans in West Bengal, four Eastern Grey Kangaroos arrived at the Kolkata Zoo from Japan. Two Himalayan Black Bears were shifted from the Darjeeling Zoo to the Bengal Safari Park on the fringes of Siliguri in North Bengal.

In July this year a 9 year old Royal Bengal Tiger fell into a trap on the entrance of a village near the Herobhanga River. The tiger had an injury in the front right paw.

The tiger was kept at the Jharkhali Tiger Reserve and was treated by the Forest department. On Thursday the tiger was released in the wild at the Ajmalmari jungle in Sunderbans.

"We had kept the tiger under observation. The tiger is absolutely fit and has been cured. The forest area where the tiger has been released has a good prey base, hence the tiger will not face any problems" stated a forest official.

Meanwhile two male and two female kangaroos from Kanagawa Zoo, Yokohama, Japan arrived at the Calcutta Zoo via Thailand on Wednesday night.

Calcutta Zoo will be exhibiting kangaroos after a gap of two years. Incidentally Joey, a kangaroo born in captivity, was the last surviving kangaroo in any Indian zoo. At the age of 4 years, Joey had died at the Alipore Zoological Gardens, Kolkata in October 2015.

Incidentally in 2011 four Red Kangaroos had been brought in from the Czech Republic. Joey had been born to one of them.

All four kangaroos however had died by 2012 from a disease called Myopathy (affecting the muscles.) Usually a kangaroo lives for around 25 years in captivity.

The four Eastern Grey Kangaroos will be kept in quarantine till mid December after which they will be put in enclosures for public viewing.

The Eastern Grey Kangaroos are said to be more adaptable than Red Kangaroos to urban environment.

The male kangaroos from Japan are aged 1year and 11 months while the two females are aged 10 months and three years.

Two Himalayan Black Bears, 8 year old Dhurba and 17 year old Jennifer have been brought to the Bengal Safari Park, Siliguri from the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP,) Darjeeling.

The park spread over an area of 200 hectares was inaugurated in January, 2016. It is located at Salugarah, 11 km from the heart of Siliguri town.

"The pair will remain in quarantine for a fortnight. After that they will be housed in the special bear safari enclosure" stated Arun Mukherjee, Director, Bengal Safari Park.

A 20 hectare space has been allocated as the special enclosure for the bear safari.

"Himalayan Black Bears are highly adaptive. They are found from high reaches to low land areas bordering the Hills" stated Pyar Chand, Director, PNHZP, Darjeeling.

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