The pandemic has put the brakes on a study to assess the habitat and distribution of hyenas, wolves and some other wild animals said to be found in the forests of the western districts of Bengal.

These animals do not hog the limelight and are not the centre of conservation efforts like their illustrious peers — tiger and elephant. Outside reserve forests areas, their population is undocumented and the extent of their distribution largely anecdotal, said forest officials. The study is the first step to plug that gap.

The study, commissioned two years ago and being done by the Zoological Survey of India, is under the West Bengal Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Project, funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). It covers hyenas, wolves, golden jackals, leopard cats and wild boars.

A team of ZSI researchers had spent months in the forests of Purulia, Jhargram, West Midnapore and Bankura. Phase one of the study involved direct sightings, taking pictures, studying scat samples, pugmarks and kills of carnivores.

Based on the direct and indirect evidence, the researchers have zeroed in on multiple “frequent encounter sites”. The second stage involves laying trap cameras at these places.

Around 30 cameras were placed at a patch of forest surrounding the Ayodhya hills in Purulia. But they had to be taken off because of risk of damages by human interference.

“A park or a sanctuary is a protected forest area with minimal human interference. But these are open forests, frequently accessed by people living in the villages on the fringes,” said Lalit Kumar Sharma, scientist and officer in charge of the wildlife division of the ZSI, who is coordinating the project.

The researchers had requested the forest department to ensure security of the equipment. Following an assurance, a fresh lot of cameras was supposed to have been placed from this March. The images captured from the camera traps would be used to analyse the population density of a species.

But the Covid-19 curbs have delayed the process by at least a few months, said a ZSI official.

“Our team has had hyena sightings at a forest near the Ayodhya hills in Purulia. We have not seen wolves but indirect evidence — scat and other samples used for DNA analysis — suggest there are multiple wolves in these forests,” said Sharma.

The forests of Purulia, Jhargram, West Midnapore and Bankura are interspersed with human settlements.

A senior wildlife official, instrumental in starting the project, explained its significance.

“The smaller animals in a tiger habitat, like the Sunderbans, are studied in detail as part of the tiger census. They form the prey base and are treated like important subjects. But the forests of south Bengal (other than the Sunderbans) are not tiger habitats. Neither are they protected forests. The smaller animals in these areas have so far remained outside the ambit of documentation,” the official told Metro.

The ZSI study also aims to provide insights into the human-wildlife conflict involving these animals and suggest ways of mitigation.

Human-wildlife conflict in these parts mostly involve marauding herds of elephants. But it is not limited to pachyderms only.

A hyena was allegedly killed, beheaded and chopped into pieces by some residents of a village in Purulia in the third week of July. Forest officials suspected it to have been a retaliatory killing because the hyena had strayed into the village and lifted some livestock.

In February 2019, a wolf was captured by residents of a Jhargram village after the animal allegedly attacked a number of locals.

The researchers have surveyed villagers living on the fringes of the forests. They interviewed individual villagers and interacted with communities to assess the “damages” caused by wild animals. The villagers were asked about “encounters” with wild animals.

“We have identified a few conflict hotspots and have shared the details with the forest department,” said Sharma of ZSI.