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Rahman: The lord of Dudhwa tiger reserve

Just two years ago, he was a terror, stalking Rahmankhera area just 25km from Lucknow after he strayed very close to human habitation. He was trapped, tranquilised and trans located to the Dudhwa tiger reserve after scared residents even refused to come out to vote in the assembly election. 

Today, Rahman - named after the place he took shelter in - is the lord of all he surveys in the reserve, lording over an astounding 60sq km area while, wildlife experts say, an average "tiger territory" doesn't go beyond 25sq km. 

Rahman also does not let any other tiger breach his territory in Dudhwa, which now has tigers. Officials say they stumbled on this incredible story as they tracked Rahman's movement through the radio collar fitted on him before he was released in the Dudhwa tiger reserve and went through the video recordings during the recent tiger census in the reserve, which used cameras for the first time. 

Rahman had strayed from Kheri forest when he was four years old. He has now marked this vast territory in Bilarayen range in the reserve. "Males have a bigger territory. For them, it could be about 15sq km or more. Tigresses, however, have lesser areas," says Tito Joseph from the Wildlife Protection Society of India. 

Officials say observations reveal that Rahman was restless by nature while he was in Rahmankhera. They say he has constantly been on the move, wherever he has been. The few months of monitoring immediately after he was released in the forest had found him "moving actively" in the area. For four days, in fact, he was not even tracked as he had entered the dense patch of the forest.

"He was actively searching for a territory," says an official. In Dudhwa, Rahman has been spotted by tourists the most. "The radio collar around his neck makes him look different," Dudhwa tiger reserve deputy director VK Singh says. In Rahmankhera, he had been spotted several times in the premises of the Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture at almost all points of time in a day. 

Scientists said they had almost lost fear of the animal. All that one has to do is to climb any of the trees in the premises, recounts a scientist. Neither did he attack any human, nor did he ever deviate from its natural prey, the blue bulls which were present in large number in the area. A canal nearby made Rahmankhera's forest patch a perfect habitat for the stray feline.


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