After car safari ban, four tiger sightings

Burning bright
Alipurduar, Feb. 4: Big cats have been spotted in the Buxa Tiger Reserve at least four times in the first phase of the 2011 census after practically none in almost 30 years.

Forest survey officials said this could be because restrictions had been imposed in the reserve, in Jalpaiguri’s Alipurduar, since November last year.

According to guidelines issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, car safaris are now banned in core areas of the forest, brought under Project Tiger in 1983. Visitors are allowed on foot in select areas but picnics are banned on the Jainti river banks.

“Our census teams have reported at least four tiger sightings in the first phase of the survey conducted between January 23 and 28. We have been getting positive results because of the cut-down in disturbance inside the forest,” said R.P. Saini, the field director of the reserve.

A count done last year by DNA-testing of tiger scat samples had recorded the presence of about 15 animals in the reserve. A beat officer had clicked a tiger last year but the picture was too grainy for any conclusion to be drawn with certainty.

This year’s survey will be done in three phases, with the second scheduled to start in the third week in February.

“We have improved scat collection and preservation methods with help from experts of Aranyak laboratory in Guwahati. Representatives from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology will be present with our team during the second phase,” Saini said.

To further minimise disturbance in the reserve, about 33 families of Bhutia Busti, who have been staying in the core area for over 20 years, would be shifted to the buffer zone, he said.