DOOARS TERAI: Tiger census in Neora Valley park
Posted by barunroy on November 17, 2008
FROM THE TELEGRAPH
Training programme for tiger census in progress. Pictures by Biplab Basak
Alipurduar, Nov. 16: An “intensive” tiger census will be carried out in all sanctuaries and national parks in north Bengal this year.
The exercise will, however, not be conducted at Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) as it was done there last year.
At Neora Valley National Park, foresters will start the counting of the big cats from November 20 and continue till 25. In Gorumara National Park, Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and the Kalimpong forest division, the census will be conducted in December.
Alipurduar MP Joachim Baxla looks at a monkey that was injured by a vehicle on NH31C on Sunday. Baxla informed foresters and vets from Rajabhatkhawa started treatment to save the animal. Pictures by Anirban Choudhury
“Yesterday, we had a training programme at Murti under Wildlife II Division and we discussed how the census will be conducted. We have planned to set cameras in the sensitive areas to take photographs,” said S. Patel, chief conservator of forests, (wildlife), north.
Although the camera trap had failed in BTR – elephants had damaged the cameras after seeing the flashlights – it would not perhaps create any problem at Neora Valley since the number of pachyderms was less there. “We will conduct the census intensely and try our best to make it successful,” Patel said.
The day-long training programme was attended by representatives from different NGOs in north Bengal and the foresters.
During the training, the participants were shown how a pugmark could be collected properly and how the footprints of a tiger could be differentiated from those of a leopard, an official said.
Another method of the census is to collect tiger excreta and send them to Dehra Doon for DNA tests.
For the 88sqkm-long Neora Valley park, 21 teams will be formed and each will have seven members. The park is spread from 3,500ft to 10,000ft height. According to the 2004 census, 15-16 tigers live in the park.
Neora Valley is connected to a national park in Bhutan. “There is a chance of tigers entering from the Bhutan side. So we will be careful to avoid any controversy,” Patel said.
