Royal Bengal Tiger Named ‘Quila’ Returned to Palamau Tiger Reserve After 13-Hour Rescue From Ranchi Village
A male Royal Bengal Tiger, which strayed into a farmer’s home in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district, was safely rescued and released into a secure enclosure at the Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR) on Thursday morning, officials confirmed.
The tiger, named ‘Quila’ by forest officials, was initially thought to have come from neighbouring West Bengal, but was later identified as a native of PTR through distinctive stripe pattern analysis and camera trap records.
According to PTR Field Director S R Natesh, the big cat was moved to a soft release centre for observation around 8 am. “The animal will be gradually reintroduced into the wild after careful monitoring of its behaviour and health,” Natesh said.
Quila was first sighted near the historic Palamu Fort in October 2023. “We named the tiger ‘Quila’ after the fort to help track its movements. It has been under surveillance through a network of forest cameras since then,” said PTR Deputy Director Prajesh Jena.
The tiger caused a stir in Mardu village, under the Silli block—about 65 kilometers from Ranchi—after it entered the home of a local farmer, Purandar Mahto, early on Wednesday morning. The area lies close to the Jharkhand-West Bengal border and falls under the jurisdiction of the Muri police outpost.
A joint rescue team comprising personnel from the forest department and PTR launched a massive 13-hour-long operation to safely tranquilize and capture the animal. “Following a primary health check-up in Ranchi, the tiger was carefully transported back to PTR, which involved a nine-hour road journey,” Jena said.
On Thursday morning, a team of veterinarians conducted a second health examination before the tiger’s transfer to a soft-release enclosure. Stripe pattern analysis and other biometric markers were used to confirm that it was indeed the same tiger seen last October near Palamu Fort.
Remarkably, Quila has covered nearly the entire internal tiger corridor of Jharkhand, displaying exceptional navigation instincts.
Over the last two years, the tiger has roamed through the districts of Chatra, Hazaribag, Palamu, and Gumla, even reaching as far as Khunti and the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary in East Singhbhum. Despite its extensive travels, the animal has never attacked a human being.
“This tiger has exhibited high levels of intelligence and adaptation. It’s sharp and patient. About six months ago, it wandered to Dalma but failed to find a route back to PTR. It was later traced in Khunti, where it was seemingly attempting to return home. In that process, it entered a house in Silli but did not harm anyone,” Jena added.
He also revealed that camera traps and field evidence now suggest the presence of five tigers in PTR—a positive sign for the reserve, which had recorded only one tiger in the 2023 All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) report.
Palamau Tiger Reserve, spanning 1,129 square kilometers, was established in 1974 as one of India’s original nine reserves under Project Tiger.
Once a flourishing habitat for big cats, it boasted 22 tigers in 1972 and peaked at 71 in 1995. However, the population has since plummeted due to various ecological challenges.
Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Jharkhand, Pradeep Kumar, documented this decline in his 2016 book ‘Main Baagh Hoon’.
According to the book, the tiger population dropped to 44 in 1997, 34 in 2002, just 10 in 2010, and only 3 by 2014.
Wildlife experts attribute the fall in tiger numbers to factors such as habitat encroachment, excessive human interference, unregulated cattle grazing, and a shrinking prey base.
Increasing Forays of Wild Animals Into Human Settlements
Incidents like Quila’s recent entry into a human dwelling reflect a broader pattern being observed across India and other parts of South Asia—an increase in wild animal sightings in rural and even urban areas.
From leopards wandering into cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru to elephants roaming through tea estates in Assam and West Bengal, human-wildlife interactions have become alarmingly frequent.
Experts believe this surge in animal forays into villages and towns is largely due to habitat fragmentation, deforestation, and rapid urban expansion, which shrink natural territories and push animals in search of food and shelter into human zones.
Additionally, the depletion of prey species within forests forces predators like tigers and leopards to venture closer to livestock-rich rural settlements.
“In many cases, wild animals are simply trying to navigate their way back to forested regions after being displaced or disoriented,” said a wildlife conservationist. “The problem is not that animals are invading human spaces—it’s that humans have expanded into animal habitats.”
Forest departments across the country are now working to strengthen wildlife corridors, install early warning systems, and conduct awareness drives in vulnerable villages to reduce the risk of conflict and ensure the safe return of such animals to the wild.
The safe rescue and return of Quila to Palamau Tiger Reserve is not just a story of success for forest officials—it is a reminder of the urgent need to balance human development with wildlife conservation in a rapidly changing landscape.
