Bareilly, Jun 20 (IANS): A four-year-old tigress has been rescued from an abandoned rubber factory in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district.

The tigress was spotted on the morning of June 16 on a camera trap inside the 1,200-acre premises of the erstwhile Synthetic and Chemical Ltd factory.

She was rescued from a tank two days later.

The factory, which has been shut for almost 22 years, now has thick foliage and forest-like overgrowth.

The tigress, according to sources, had moved into the factory premises in March this year.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Bharat Lal said: "The tank was her hideout. But while the camera trap image pointed to a tank, there were four within the premises and we did not know which one she was hiding in. Finally, when we managed to find the tank she was in, we locked it up to confine her and informed the rescue team at Pilibhit."

Forest officials said that the tigress had migrated from the Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Lakhimpur Kheri.

Daksh Gangwar, who tranquilised her, said: "She is young. She must have started moving in search of territory. It is presumed that she moved to the Haripur range in Pilibhit, crossed Barahi and Mahof range, and then crossed the Devha river before reaching Bareilly through farmlands. She had learnt how to adapt to humans and no sighting was reported by anyone until she started living at the rubber factory."

The tigress will now be released into the forests she had come from.