National big cat estimation at Buxa soon

RAJKUMAR KARMAKAR, SNS, ALIPURDUAR, 29 NOVEMBER 21 : The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTGA) has Made the Buxa Tiger Reserve forest in Al ipurduar district the headquarters for all forests in North Bengal where the 5th 'National Big Cats Estimation' is being scheduled to be conducted soon, forest officials said.

It is learnt that the herbivores will also be counted for the first time at the same time the tiger estimation is done in the forests of North Bengal.

"As the Buxa Tiger Reserve is the only tiger reserve in North Bengal, the forest has been made the headquarters of north Bengal forests for the 5th tiger estimation programme," an official said.

Officials at the tiger raceme have completed the first phase of the training programme for the estimation drive, it is learnt.

Officials said that they will divide the 760-sq-km forest into two parts and conduct the estimation.

"One hundred pairs of trap cameras will be set up in the Buxa Tiger Reserve forest in each of the two parts that will click photos of the herbivores and carnivores in the jungle.

Field visits with a mobile App 'Ecological' will also be conducted, where direct data of the dung, seats and scratches will also be uploaded," an official said. The estimate programme will also use the direct sighting method.

The forest authority has targeted to set trap cameras in one of the parts of the forest by December this year and begin field survey by January.

"The divisional forest authority has been asked to decide on the date of the start of the 5th National Tiger Estimation programme as per their choice. However, it is better to end the estimation process by February and March. We plan to set up the cameras by December and will start the field survey by January," said the Field Director of the BTR, Buddharaj Sewa.

"The bio-diversity of the BTR is very good," added Mr Sewa.

Notably, the Buxa Tiger Reserve was made a tiger reserve forest in 1983 and is the 15th tiger reserve forest in India.

The BTR has an old fame of having at least 26 tigers in the seventies. However, there are doubts that the forest has any population of the bigc ats, as proof of their presence in the forest is lacking for about 10 years now. To bring back the old glory, the state forest department has started the tiger augmentation programme in the forest after the National Tiger Conservation Authority primarily gave it a nod. Six tigers from the Kajiranga National Park are supposed to be brought in the BTR.