India's first tiger rescue centre in Sunderbans

KOLKATA: The first tiger rescue centre of the country will be ready to welcome big cats in three months. Being developed at Jharkhali in the Sunderbans, the centre will provide asylum to injured and straying tigers that are either brought to Kolkata for treatment or released in far corners of the mangrove forest. Even though fenced off from the rest of the jungle, the centre will be contiguous to the main Sunderbans and allow tigers to roam free in the wild. They will, however, not be able to leave the centre which will be fenced off.
Work on the centre's outer fence is complete. Fifteen feet high iron bars have been erected to create a boundary that cuts it from the rest of the forest. There will be an inner periphery with a lower fence made of bars interspersed with chain-links. It will mark separate enclosures for four tigers across a 100-acre area. Adjacent to the Chhoto Herobhanga river, the centre will be enclosed on all four sides and have waterbodies apart from enough mangrove cover for tigers to feel "at home", said Pradip Vyas, director, Sunderban Biosphere Reserve. "It will allow us to treat injured tigers in the forest itself which will spare them the agony of having to spend months at the zoo hospital in Alipore. While they will be able to stay back in the forest, the tigers will remain protected at the centre.