The Bengal forest department has sent a letter to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) at the Centre, seeking funds for the conservation of royal Bengal tigers at the Neora Valley National Park (NVNP) in Kalimpong district.
Dwija Pratim Sen, the divisional forest officer of Gorumara wildlife division (NVNP is under his ambit), sent the letter to the NTCA, appending a report submitted by experts of the Zoological Survey of India.
He said that in 2017, a cab driver clicked a photo of a tiger crossing a road in Lava on the fringes of the park.
This made the state forest department install trap cameras in different park locations in 2018.
“After cameras were installed, we could get photos of tigers from at least 22 locations in the park from 2018 to 2022. We collected tiger scat and pugmarks and sent those to the Wildlife Institute of India (in Dehradun) along with the photos, but have not received any reports so far,” said Sen.
The state forest department, which continued to underscore the presence of tigers at the NVNP, recently found that last year, a report filed by four experts of the ZSI on the park found a place in a journal published by the Centre.
“In 2018, four experts from the ZSI’s Calcutta office went to the NVNP. There, they installed trap cameras and clicked photos. In their report on ‘Himalayan Biodiversity Monitoring Project', they have confirmed the presence of tigers at the NVNP,” said a source.
A senior forester said the NTCA recently published an estimate of royal Bengal tigers in India. The report mentions one tiger at the Buxa Tiger Reserve (Alipurduar district) but omits the NVNP.
“That is why we have enclosed the report of ZSI experts in our letter. We want the NTCA to give us funds for the conservation of tigers at the NVNP,” said the divisional forest officer.
Located on the upper reaches of Kalimpong district, the NVNP is still a virgin forest area, rich in biodiversity.
“It is a storehouse of varied flora and fauna with several rare plant and animal species,” said Animesh Bose, a Siliguri-based wildlife conservationist.
