Darjeeling: West Bengal Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mallick on Saturday broke the good news of Royal Bengal Tiger sighting at the Buxa Tiger Resort in Alipurduar after 23 years.
Talking to media persons, Mullick stated: "A Royal Bengal tiger has been caught on a trap camera in the Buxa Tiger Resort thereby shattering the myth that there are no tigers in Buxa. The last sighting was in 1998. We are very happy."
A forest official stated: "From time to time various signs of big cats in Buxa have been found. This is an indicator that the biodiversity of Buxa is rich and thriving. We have been able to capture a camera trap picture of the Royal Bengal Tiger. For the safety of the tiger we are not revealing the exact location and time of the capture. It is recent and from the core area of Buxa Tiger Reserve."
He further stated that this is an indicator that Buxa as a habitat is favourable for tigers and other big cats. "The
protection level of the habitat and forest has been increased following the sighting of the tiger," he added.
Fearing a conflict between the big cats and forest villagers residing inside the forest, the Forest minister stated that negotiations have been on to voluntarily relocate these families to other favourable locations outside the forest.
In order to increase the tiger population, earlier the forest department had initiated a process whereby ten female and four male tigers would be brought in from Kaziranga forest in Assam and released in Buxa as both the habitats are the same.
Buxa Tiger Reserve in the Alipurduar district of North Bengal covers an area of 760 km2. Around 284 species of birds along with Asian Elephant, Gaur, Sambar deer, Clouded and Indian Leopard can be found in the Reserve.