Tigers to be introduced in Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal on October 2
The West Bengal Forest Department has planned to introduce tigers into Buxa Tiger Reserve, with a target date around October 2.
Senior forest officials have indicated that sourcing tigers from the Sundarbans may not be suitable for Buxa's habitat, and are instead considering tigers from similar landscapes in Assam and Bihar.
The move follows years of preparatory work after a camera trap recorded a tiger inside Buxa in December 2021 — the first confirmed sighting there in roughly four decades.
Any reintroduction is to be carried out in line with National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines.
Buxa Tiger Reserve — Project Tiger Status
Buxa Tiger Reserve, located in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal, was notified in 1983 as India's 15th Tiger Reserve under Project Tiger (launched 1973).
Key Details
- Total area: 760.87 sq km, comprising a core (Critical Tiger Habitat) of 390.58 sq km — coextensive with Buxa Wildlife Sanctuary and Buxa National Park — and a buffer of 370.28 sq km.
- Borders Bhutan to the north, with corridor connectivity to Assam's Kochugaon forests and Manas Tiger Reserve to the east, and links to Jaldapara National Park to the west.
- Despite this habitat connectivity, the reserve had no confirmed resident tiger population for decades before the 2021 camera-trap record.
The reintroduction plan aims to re-establish a breeding tiger population in a reserve whose habitat and corridor linkages remain intact even though resident tigers had been absent.
Critical Tiger Habitat and the Core-Buffer Framework (Wildlife Protection Act, 1972)
The Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006 inserted Sections 38L to 38O, constituting the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), and Section 38V, which provides for notification of "Critical Tiger Habitat" (core) and buffer zones within tiger reserves.
Key Details
- NTCA, constituted under Section 38L(1), is chaired by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and approves state-prepared Tiger Conservation Plans.
- Under Section 38V, core areas are to be kept inviolate for tiger conservation, with any relocation of rights-holders required to be voluntary and based on independent scientific assessment; buffer areas permit regulated coexistence of human activity and wildlife.
- Any translocation or reintroduction protocol must be approved as part of the reserve's NTCA-sanctioned Tiger Conservation Plan.
Buxa's planned tiger introduction is explicitly framed as following NTCA guidelines, tying the reintroduction to this statutory core-buffer and conservation-plan framework.
Reintroduction vs. Translocation — Conservation Methodology
"Reintroduction" refers to releasing a species into habitat from which it has been locally extirpated, distinct from "translocation" (moving individuals between existing populations) and "augmentation" (supplementing a depleted population); habitat and prey-base matching between source and destination sites is a key criterion in international reintroduction guidelines (IUCN/SSC, 2013).
Key Details
- India has two prior successful tiger reintroduction precedents: Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan (2008, tigers translocated from Ranthambore after local extinction) and Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh (2009, from Kanha and Bandhavgarh).
- Officials' preference for Assam- or Bihar-origin tigers over Sundarbans-origin tigers for Buxa reflects habitat-matching: Sundarbans tigers are adapted to a mangrove/saline ecosystem, while Buxa's terai/sub-Himalayan moist-deciduous landscape more closely resembles source populations in Assam (e.g., Manas, Kaziranga).
The explicit rejection of Sundarbans as a source population, in favour of Assam/Bihar, illustrates how habitat-type matching — not just tiger availability — drives reintroduction-site selection.
Conservation Status of the Tiger
The tiger (Panthera tigris) is placed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 — the highest level of legal protection under Indian law — and is classified as "Endangered" on the IUCN Red List.
Key Details
- Schedule I species receive the strictest protection, with the highest penalties for violations under the Act.
- India's tiger conservation programme (Project Tiger, 1973; NTCA, 2006) is credited internationally as a model for range-country tiger recovery efforts.
Buxa's reintroduction effort forms part of the broader national tiger recovery framework built on this legal and institutional protection regime.
- Buxa Tiger Reserve: India's 15th Tiger Reserve, notified 1983 under Project Tiger
- Total area: 760.87 sq km (core 390.58 sq km; buffer 370.28 sq km)
- Location: Alipurduar district, West Bengal; borders Bhutan
- First camera-trap confirmation of a tiger at Buxa after decades: December 2021
- Planned reintroduction target date: October 2
- Prior successful Indian tiger reintroductions: Sariska (2008), Panna (2009)
- Tiger conservation status: IUCN "Endangered"; Schedule I, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972