Guwahati, July 14: A wait-and-watch policy paid off well for Kaziranga National Park officials, as a stranded big cat started moving back to its habitat on its own.

Park officials on Monday said the 11-hour operation was carried out by a joint team of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), national park forest officials, state police and civic administration to guide a stranded tiger back to the wild in the evening yesterday.

The WTI team swung into action after receiving a call from the Kaziranga National Park and together with a joint team of Kaziranga National Park led by P. Sivakumar, the director reached the site to observe the animal, ensuring its protection till safe passage back to the forest.

The WTI team was led by Dr Samshul Ali, while Rabin Sharma, the research officer of Kaziranga National Park, took photos and video of the tiger to assess if it had any injuries.

The team ensured isolation from the crowd, which had been gathering at the site, this was essential to give the animal time to regain its energy and move back to its natural habitat where it would be safe.

The joint team decided to wait and watch until sunset to allow the animal to move under cover of darkness back to the national park.

The WTI team had also made standby preparations for a rescue as a back-up plan. “Fortunately, at sunset, the tiger started moving and took shelter in a bamboo thicket,” a park official said.

“We had planned to guide the animal in the darkness after villagers returned to the homes and accordingly an announcement was also made for the villagers to remain at home for safety,” said Dr Samshul Ali.

The team started guiding the tiger towards the forest.

This exercise took about an hour as it swam through the inundated fields until it disappeared into the darkness towards the park boundary of eastern forest range of the national park.

The entire operation took 11 hours.

Two tigers strayed out from the national park to Baghmari village area.

While one tiger, which was stranded today, was enabled safe passage, another one is resting near National Highway 37.

P. Sivakumar, the director of the national park, said, “The operation was very smooth and everybody extended timely support.”