‘No tiger sighted in Buxa Tiger Reserve since December 31, 2023’

Alipurduar: Despite the installation of hundreds of trap cameras over the past year, no tigers have been spotted in Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) this winter. The last confirmed sighting of a Royal Bengal Tiger was on December 31, 2023, when a male tiger was captured on a trap camera deep within the forest.

In recent years, tiger sightings in BTR, particularly during winter, had become a pattern. However, the absence of any recorded sightings for an entire year has once again raised concerns over the Forest department’s conservation efforts.

The first reported sighting in 2023 occurred on January 25, when tourist Debarshi Biswas from Dumdum, Kolkata, along with his family and guide Nitai Bhattacharya from Rajabhatkhawa, spotted a tiger.

A few days later, the same tiger was recorded on a trap camera on December 31. Since then, no further evidence of tiger presence has been found in the reserve.

“We have not found any direct evidence of tiger presence in the Buxa forest in the last year,” confirmed Apurba Sen, Field Director of Buxa Tiger Reserve.

For nearly two decades, BTR had no confirmed tiger presence. However, in 2021, a trap camera captured an image of a tiger, followed by additional sightings in subsequent years.

In response, the Forest department, in collaboration with the National Tiger Conservation Authority, launched multiple conservation initiatives to restore the habitat.

Thousands of hectares of grassland were developed, approximately 2,000 chital and sambar deer were released to strengthen the prey base and core-area settlements, including Gangutia and Bhutia, were relocated. Further relocation plans are also underway.

Additionally, over 200 new trap cameras have been installed to enhance monitoring. Despite these extensive efforts, with winter now over, neither a single tiger has been recorded on camera nor directly sighted in the reserve.