: When we Rescued a Tigress from a Factory: Experts Share Thrilling Details #IndiaNEWS #Animals In early 2020, as the world leaders called for social distancing to control the spread of COVID-19, a

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When we Rescued a Tigress from a Factory: Experts Share Thrilling Details #IndiaNEWS #Animals
In early 2020, as the world leaders called for social distancing to control the spread of COVID-19, a 4-year-old Sharmili isolated herself in an old abandoned rubber factory in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly city. Spread over 1,200 hectares, the dilapidated factory was covered with dense vegetation and the nearest human settlement was less than a kilometre away.
Inside the labyrinth of trees, bushes and creepers, Sharmili found her safe haven with ample food, water and, most importantly, an undisturbed territory. The factory also housed wild animal species like blackbucks, wild boar, Nilgai, wild pigs, etc.
If you are wondering why Sharmili was content to be on her lonesome, now would be a good time to reveal that she is a tigress who came here from the Kishanpur sanctuary in the Lakhimpur Kheri district last year by crossing swathes of sugarcane and mustard fields.
This was neither the first time a big cat had entered the factory situated on disputed land nor will it be the last, unless a decision has been made on the factory’s status, and rescue operations are the only way to avoid human-animal conflicts.
Camera Trap image of Sharmili
After several attempts, Sharmili was rescued on 19 June 2021 and released into the Dudhwa National Park. However, this was unlike any other rescue operation, as the tigress carefully hid in plain sight and wasn’t noticed by the camera trap either.
However, Dr Mayukh Chatterjee, Head of Division, Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation from Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), says, “Capturing a wild cat is not the tricky part, tracking is. �
Mayukh had rescued a tiger from the factory in 2018 and says, “Identifying the tiger’s spot in a vast area like the factory is challenging in itself. It has a complex topography with no one knowing where the canals, roots, shrubs start or end. Though I know every inch of the area now, it was still difficult to rescue Sharmili. She was disappearing like a ghost despite the many cameras. In 2018, I remember telling the officials ‘phir milenge (we’ll meet again)’, as this place was and still is a boon for wild animals. Humans underestimate tigers who can hear prey calls from as far as 100 kilometres, so Sharmili’s entry was not surprising. �
Camera and pug marks are important means to find tigers. However, the factory’s surface was starkly different as there was no soil.
Additionally, when they discovered that the tigress could be holding up in a tank, the issue was to identify which one of the many tanks?
The rescue operation was conducted by experts from the Wildlife Trust of India and forest department officials of Bareilly and Pilibhit.

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