Bengal tigers have been found in the Neora Valley National Park (NVNP) in Kalimpong for the first time during summer and monsoon months, officials of the Gorumara wildlife division said on Tuesday.

NVNP, where the presence of tigers was found earlier during winters, comes under the wildlife division of the state forest department.

“Our staff have seen pugmarks in certain locations of the park which confirms the presence of the Bengal Tiger in the area in May. This is unusual as so far, photos of tigers were clicked during winter months at the park,” said Dwijapratim Sen, the divisional forest officer of Gorumara wildlife division.

According to him, personnel of the department posted in NVNP have yet to retrieve all the trap cameras installed in the park due to the heavy rain.

“They need to trek to remote locations to get the trap cameras. They have collected some cameras and we are examining the photos clicked. Due to the rainfall, landslides have occurred in some locations of the park making the task tough,” the official added.

Some foresters mentioned that as NVNP shares contiguous forest cover with Sikkim and Bhutan, there were theories that tigers came down from the upper reaches of these locations to NVNP during winters when temperatures drop to zero.

“But if the presence of tigers is found in the park during summer and monsoon, it would surely hint that the animal is staying at the park and not moving in from elsewhere,” said a senior forester.

He mentioned that in 2017, Anmol Chhetri, a cab driver, had clicked photos of a tiger. Since then, tiger photos have been clicked many times in NVNP.

However, due to the monsoons, officials are sceptical about whether they would find clear photos of tigers in the trap cameras.