03rd January 2020– “On December 18, 2019, a trail camera captured a tiger. We are yet to analyse the image. We cannot say right now if it is a male or a female,” said Ravi Kant Sinha, principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden of West Bengal.
A Bengal tiger was caught on camera last month above 7,000 ft at Neora Valley National Park in Kalimpong district of north Bengal, making it the third sighting of the big cat since 2017.
A tiger was first spotted in the region in January 2017 by a car driver who took photos of the big cat. Later, the same tiger was caught on a trail camera installed by the forest department across the 88-sq km the national park in January 2018.
The national park, which is a virgin forest, is in the UNESCO’s tentative list of world heritage sites since 2009. The state government wants the status of a tiger reserve for the national park but the Centre has not approved the proposal yet. Bengal presently has two tiger reserves, Sunderbans in south Bengal and Buxa in north Bengal.
