International Tiger Day: New Territories And Areas Where Big Cats Have Been Camera Trapped - In Pics

The Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Jharkhand was overjoyed to spot a tiger in its camera traps last week, after three long years of no sightings. The national park's chief conservator of forest and field director, Kumar Ashutosh, even managed to snap a photo of the majestic animal from just 15 meters away. The last time a tiger was seen in PTR's camera traps was in January, 2020.

Credit: Indian Masterminds 

A rare sight of an adult tiger strolling in Himachal Pradesh was captured by a camera trap, making it the first ever tiger seen in the state. This raised the hopes of wildlife enthusiasts for the possibility of relocating the big cat to a new home in the state's Simbalbara National Park, which covers 27.88 sq km.

Picture Credits: Dfowlshimla 

Another good news for tiger lovers came from Mahananda Tiger Reserve in north Bengal, where camera traps recorded the presence of tigers after more than two decades. The last photographic evidence of tigers in the forest was found in 1999.

Photo Credit: IFS Parveen Kaswan's Twitter

Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary (India), which had lost its tiger population in the past, recorded the first photographic proof of tigers from a recent camera trapping survey, according to the latest Tiger census report. Interestingly, one of the tigers photo-captured in Suhelwa was also recorded in Banke National Park of Nepal in 2018.

Tourists and forest department staff were delighted to see a tiger in the eco-tourism zone of Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary at Debrigarh in Bargarh district. The Hirakud Wildlife Division confirmed this and also released a photo of the magnificent big cat. The tiger was sighted in the eco-tourism zone on December 1, 2022.

In February, a camera trap caught a glimpse of an adult tiger in Himachal Pradesh, marking the first ever tiger sighting in the area. Similarly, Haryana Forests and Wildlife Minister Kanwar Pal announced that a camera trap captured a tiger in April in state's Kalesar National Park, the first sighting in the area in 110 years.

Three pictures of Royal Bengal tigers were clicked by trap cameras installed in the Neora Valley National Park in the upper reaches of Kalimpong district last year. This confirmed the presence of tigers in the park. 

After at least 23 years of no sightings, a Royal Bengal Tiger was spotted in Buxa tiger reserve in Alipurduar, North Bengal, in December 2021. A few days before the sighting, a pugmark was found near the river bank in Buxa. But it was not clear if it belonged to a tiger, until a trap camera captured a picture of a tiger in the forest of East Damanpur of Buxa tiger reserve.

Picture Credit - IFS Ramesh Pandey Twitter