A tigress named T138 just walked back into a forest that had forgotten tigers

For decades, Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal had tigers in its name but none in its forests. Habitat damage and a shrinking prey base left the 760-square-kilometer park with no stable tiger family for years. That changed this week: tigress T138 was moved from Bihar's Valmiki Tiger Reserve and released into Buxa's jungles, the first step in a science-based plan to bring a self-sustaining tiger population back to this historic North Bengal landscape. The release — witnessed by the Union environment minister and the West Bengal chief minister — opens Wildlife Week 2026. Buxa's forests connect with protected areas in Bhutan and Assam, and conservationists will be watching for what every cat-lover hopes: cubs.