Bengal: In rare sighting, tourist clicks picture of Indian Dhole in Buxa Tiger Project

Alipurduar: In a rare sighting incident, a tourist managed to click the picture of a full-grown Indian Dhole, bringing cheer to the Buxa Tiger Reserve in Alipurduar.

According to the Forest department, this is proof enough that owing to proper conservation efforts and an ideal environment, the population of wild dogs is now expanding throughout the forests of the Buxa Tiger Reserve.

The Indian Dhole (Cuon alpines) is listed under the endangered category of the IUCN Red List. It is a wild Canid (member of the dog family) found in the forests of Central, South and Southeast Asia.

Prasoon Biswas, a doctor from Cooch Behar, managed to photograph this Dhole during his jungle safari trip with his family from Jayanti to Bara Mahakal. He said: “We initially mistook the animal for a fox but a local resident from Jayanti identified it. Though I panicked for a moment due to their aggressive nature, I got out of the car to take pictures. The group comprised five wild dogs but I could capture the picture of only one. After that, I decided not to take any further risks.”

Apurba Sen, Field Director of the Buxa Tiger Reserve, stated: “At the moment, we do not have any statistics on the population of Indian Dholes in Buxa. Assessing their numbers is also a challenging task. Nevertheless, we will continue our efforts. We have a collection of their photos captured by camera traps, but encountering them in person is truly a matter of luck.”

On November 22, 2017, another tourist from Dankuni — Tubai Manna — had captured an image of the Indian Dhole deep within the Buxa Forest.

Forest personnel conducting surveillance deep within the forest have reported several sightings of Indian Dholes within the reserve forest. Additionally, the camera traps deployed by the Forest department have captured images of these remarkable animals.