"Bhutan's joint participation with the Buxa Tiger Reserve will be mutually beneficial in the conservation of biological corridors and protection of big cats," field director of the reserve R P Saini said.
Saini, who had participated in a meeting of the Global Tiger Forum in Delhi on June 28, said it had been decided to forge close cooperation among officers of adjoining reserves of neighbouring counties for better monitoring and protection of tigers and other wild life.
It was also decided that training facilities of all member-countries would be mutually shared, he said.
Asked about the time line of the programme commencing, he said first a study had to be conducted to find out facilities in the member-countries.
"One country may have better facilities for training range officers, while some other country may have better facilities for training forest guards," he pointed out and said it would take some time.
Saini said at present there was no pact with Bhutan for joint monitoring or sharing of each other's facilities.
"Only a bi-annual meeting was held between the two countries in which everything from trade to law and order and wildlife was discussed," he said.
A sub-adult tiger was photographed for the first time in Buxa in March this year.
"There was never a doubt that the forest had tigers. The only worry was that sightings had become rare. So, this was very reassuring," Saini said.
A tiger census was held in the 761-square-kilometre reserve this year using scat analysis and camera trapping method and the outcome is expected to be known by the end of the year, sources in the Buxa reserve said.
At the meeting of the Global Tiger Forum representatives of various countries had discussed the issues confronting tiger threadbare and underlined the need for trans-boundary cooperation to check poaching.
They also expressed concern that habitat loss, unabated smuggling of animal parts and bones and declining prey base continued to take toll on the tiger population which is now estimated to be less than 3,000 worldwide.
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