A male tiger, which was captured by forest officials almost a week ago, was freed into the core zone of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) here on Tuesday, an official said.
Estimated to be around six or seven-year-old, the tiger was brought back from Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary on Monday, Sanjay Kumar Pathak, field director, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve told PTI.
The big cat was released early on Tuesday in the official's presence.
He said deputy director, buffer zone Sundaresh, IP Bopanna and Rohit Ravi from Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Dr Mohit Gupta of World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-India and others were also present.
"Before his release, a radio collar was put around the tiger's neck so as to ensure monitoring of his movements and behaviour," Pathak said.
The tiger was captured after a number of human casualties took place near Khairatia village in the Manjhra Purab area of Dudhwa buffer zone on the India-Nepal border on May 21.
Dudhwa Tiger Reserve officials launched a search operation to catch the big cat, placing cages, and cameras and combing the area.
On June 27, a tiger was caught in a cage near Khairatia while on June 29, a tigress was captured in a cage in the same area. Both were brought to neighbouring Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary where they were examined by experts and doctors including Dr Parag from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
All unanimously declared the male tiger innocent owing to his physical fitness and normal behaviour. The images of the cameras and pugmarks collected from the man-animal conflict spots also corroborated their decision.
"On the contrary, the tigress described to be over nine-year-old was aggressive and had its left canines broken. Her images and pugmarks were also detected from the spots, where human casualties took place," said Pathak.
He said, "Following this, the higher forest authorities instructed to send the tigress to Lucknow zoo while freeing the innocent tiger back into the forest."
