Rescued tiger cub released into Kaziranga after net entanglement in Assam village

A tiger cub rescued from a house in Assam's Biswanath district has been released into the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, officials said.

The cub, estimated to be about three months old, was found with its forelimbs entangled in a kitchen garden net behind a house in Natungaon village on September 17. Officials believe it may have wandered into the village after being separated from its mother by strong river currents.

A rescue team searched the neighbouring riverine islands for the mother and then moved the cub to the Central Range Office of Kaziranga's Biswanath Division for veterinary observation.

Kaziranga Field Director C. Ramesh said the team transported the cub to an upstream riverine island after information and evidence indicated that a mother with cubs had been in the area recently.

Before the release, the team installed a camera trap at the site to gather evidence of an adult tigress. A drone survey showed that rising water levels posed a risk to the animal, prompting the team to shift the cub to a more secure location.

Panjit Basumatary of the Wildlife Trust of India said pugmark evidence was found on September 23, about 200 metres from where the cub was released. Camera-trap monitoring will continue over the coming weeks, he said.

Separately, a team of specialists from the WTI and the Assam Forest Department treated an injured male wild elephant sighted at Kacharigaon Tea Estate in Sonitpur district. The elephant had a spear-related injury on its left foreleg, which had caused severe swelling, and corneal opacity in its left eye with suspected partial loss of vision.

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