Lakhimpur Kheri, April 3 -- While working to mitigate human-wildlife conflict in the Dudhwa buffer zone, forest officials now face a big headache: where to release the big cats after capturing them? According to H Rajamohan, field director, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR), DTR is now beyond its capacity to accommodate the rescued big cats while the alternate options to rehabilitate them in other reserve forests or zoos also face a similar space crunch. So, where do big cats go after being rescued? Field director, DTR, H Rajamohan said, "DTR has 135 big cats as per last tiger estimation of 2022 and seven tigers and 49 leopards were rescued and rehabilitated to safe core areas in 2023-24." He added that two tigers and 23 leopards in 2024-25, and two tigers and 24 leopards were rescued in 2025-26 and said some of these were rehabilitated into zoos and some in others in core areas of DTR. Predators, if found healthy and fit for release, cannot be put inside cages for a prolonged period, and are to be released in appropriate core zone areas at the earliest. Rajamohan said, "DTR and other tiger reserves are functioning beyond capacity as the big cat population has increased and consequently their density in the core areas." With its rich habitat management and exalted ecology, DTR had ample prey base including swamp deer, hog deer, spotted deer, barking deer, neelgai, wild boar etc to accommodate carnivore predators. According to forest officials, the core zone areas of DTR are already well-populated with a high density of big cats, while other reserved forest areas and zoos in the state have expressed inability to accommodate more animals as they also have equally large numbers of big cats. The core issue lies in the increasing density and population of these big cats. As per the last quadrennial tiger population report released in July 2023, the number of tigers in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) grew to 135 from 82 in 2018. Similarly, according to the triennial counting report of leopards in the Dudhwa buffer zone, the number of leopards has reached 51 in 2025 from 21 in 2022. Ramesh Pandey, additional director general of forests (ADGF) at the MoEFCC and director, wildlife preservation said, "We can say that density (of big cats) at most places has exceeded. However, to decide the saturation point is difficult unless established by some scientific research. Earlier, a big cat family comprising a male and two females was assumed to have a territory of 10 to 15 square kilometres. However, new research and studies made through radio-collaring (of big cats) show that if habitat qualities, forest fragmentation, water regime and prey base are suitable, the big cats can be accommodated in a much smaller area." Pandey, who also served DTR as field director, said four rescue centres at Pilibhit, Ranipur, Meerut and Najibabad had been established under the national CAMPA scheme and these are scheduled to be operational soon, which is sure to ease the problem of rehabilitation of captured wild animals. However, in the buffer zone, Pandey said the rising number of leopards and other big cats had resulted in frequent human-interface as human population had also increased considerably. "State zoo authorities have been advised to enhance their capacity to accommodate the rescued wild animals. Once capacity is enhanced, around 2,000 leopards across the country can be accommodated." He added that "dedicated wildlife rescue centres are yet to be made operational, hence, releasing the captured big cats in a suitable area is a big issue". However, Rajamohan clarified that alternate options like the Kaimur Sanctuary, Mirzapur and others were being utilised but only as a temporary arrangement. Sanjay Biswal, director, Lucknow zoo, said, "We have only 14 spaces for big cats including four on display and 10 in hospital and all are occupied as of date with no further room." Dr Mudit Gupta, head of eastern Terai region at WWF-India, said "When a wild animal is captured, the rule is to release or rehabilitate it in low-density areas so that they can adjust and adapt to their new environment easily. However, such a situation no longer exists." "The numbers of tigers and leopards are increasing everywhere. Take Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Dudhwa, Kishanpur or Katarniaghat: everywhere the numbers of tigers and leopards have significantly risen, resulting in a higher density of the big cat population." He suggested that the time was ripe to develop new areas like Ranipur, Sohelwa, Shivalik etc to rehabilitate captured big cats. But, before that, issues of habitat management, prey-base management and staff capacity-building would have to be addressed first. -Deo Kant Pandey...