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Six more tigers found in Sunderbans

Tigers are burning bright in the Sunderbans. After detecting the presence of two new big cats outside the reserve area last month, the camera traps have captured images of six new tigers in the reserve area itself giving enough signs that the number of the big cats in the mangroves is stable. 

What's more, four of the new big cats are females, which according to forest officials show that the Sunderbans has breeding population of tiger. While a complete outcome of the camera trap exercise is expected by the end of this year, it has already found presence of eight new tigers in the entire mangroves this year, including two outside the reserve area. 

The new individuals, this time, were found in the National Park East range of the mangroves, comprising the forests of Baghmara and Chamta. "A total of 19 tigers have so far been found in this range, of which six are new and the rest were photo captured during the same exercise last year," said a senior official of WWF-India's Sunderbans chapter. 

Talking to TOI, chief wildlife warden Ujjwal Bhattacharya said the findings show that the tiger population in the Sunderbans is very much stable. "Tigers are great wanderers and have huge home ranges and territories. Images of new individuals in the Sunderbans drive home the fact again. While new tigers will come and make their own territories, some will either move out on their own in search of food or may be driven out by new individuals commonly known as outsiders," he said. 

With the findings of new individuals come the hope for a rise in tiger number. The new tigers, according to additional PCCF Pradeep Vyas, show that there may be actually more tigers in the Sunderbans compared to the figure of 103, the minimum number of big cats found in the mangroves last year. "These new big cats didn't appear before the cameras last time. So, this is a positive sign as far as tiger population here is concerned," he added. 

But, the officials are also cautious before jumping onto any conclusion. "At the moment, we can say that the population trend is stable. After compilation of images from all the ranges - National Park East, National Park West, Sajnekhali and Basirhat - we can say whether it is rising. For now, sighting of new individuals definitely brings hope for the future," said STR field director Soumitra Dasgupta. 

It may be noted that during the exercise last year, 26 big cats were found in the National Park East range. This year, the officials started their exercise in the month of March and laid 60 pairs of trap cameras across the range covering almost 700 square kilometres area. "We will conduct the same exercise in Sajnekhali and Basirhat after the monsoon. By the end of this year, you can expect the figure for the entire mangroves," said an official of WWF-India. The camera-trap exercise for the National Park West range is being conducted by the officials of Wildlife Institute of India (WII). 

State wildlife advisory board member Joydip Kundu said: "This is definitely a positive sign and a landmark effort by the department which is now bringing reliable estimation of tiger number from the mangroves. But, with these new findings, come the need to implement stronger protection measures." 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/...925414.cms
 

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