Rare and nearly extinct wildlife species found in Buxa Tiger Reserve

Ei Samay | TNN,  Jan 23, 2018 : Situated near the international Indo-Bhutan border, the 760 square kilometre area of the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal's Alipurduar district is rich in flora and fauna. Recent video footage from concealed cameras in the forest have revealed quite a number of wildlife species which had either been labeled as 'very rare' or lacked physical sightings till now.

One of these latest finds is the Asiatic Black Bear, which was sighted for the first time in this reserve. Earlier these bears were common in the lower Himalayan forests. But extensive poaching reduced their numbers to the brim of extinction. Though mentioned in the list of inhabitants of Buxa, actual sightings were a far cry from the reality.

The Yellow Throated Martin, though not so uncommon, had never been spotted before in these forest lands.

To enhance the number of tigers in Buxa, a number of these big cats have been imported from other game reserves. This required a thorough knowledge of the existence of other species in the tiger reserve. To serve this purpose, concealed cameras were placed in several spots in the forest.

The recent sightings of several rare wildlife species including the Asiatic Black Bear, Large Indian Civet, Marbled Cat, Leopard Cat, Clouded Leopard, Yellow Throated Martin have encouraged the Forest Department to install another 500 cameras inside the wild reserve.

Ravikant Sinha, the Chief Conservator of West Bengal has approved the drafted budget regarding this project. According to Sinha, "The recent sightings have again proved the presence of extensive wildlife diversity in the Buxa Tiger Reserve."

He further said, "The process of importing tigers for the Buxa Willife Reserve has gained speed after receiving green signal from the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Meanwhile the proof of so many rare wildlife species is definitely a positive factor. Hence, we are now putting special efforts for the conservation of these new-found species."

Once the home of the One Horned Rhinoceros and Wild Buffaloes, the Buxa Tiger Reserve lost many wildlife varieties in the 1980s mainly due to random poaching practices. Extensive effort by the Forest Department to rehabilitate these two species proved to be in vain. Now, the department is very careful about the conservation of the recently discovered species.