The tiger that was photographed at Buxa Tiger Reserve on the night of January 15 has travelled hundreds of kilometres across the forest over the last few days, forest officials said on Sunday.
The male tiger has travelled from the western part of Buxa Tiger Reserve to the eastern part, where it was located on Sunday evening, said forest department officials. It was apparently searching for a mate.
Metro reported on Sunday that the tiger’s photograph was captured at the Buxa Tiger Reserve, the first confirmed presence of a tiger since December 2023. The tiger was captured moving through dense forest by one of the trap cameras installed at West Rajabhatkhawa Range on January 15 at 8.19pm.
“The tiger is still inside the forest range. Our team has found signs of the tiger, including pug marks,” Apurba Sen, field director, Buxa Tiger Reserve, said on Sunday.
According to forest officials, the male adult tiger possibly came from Bhutan.
“A male tiger usually searches for a new territory for two reasons. One, if the adult is not fully grown and is driven out by another male tiger. Secondly, if it is searching for a female tiger,” said an official.
“The way this tiger is moving fast inside the tiger reserve, crossing over from one forest range to another, it seems the animal is searching for a mate,” he said.
Buxa Tiger Reserve covers 761 square kilometres, said another official.
A plan for the relocation of tigers at Buxa has been established, but it has not yet been executed.
Buxa, once home to tigers, had seen no confirmed sightings since December 31, 2023, the last confirmed camera trap image, before the one on January 15 this year.
A tiger relocation programme has been going on for the last five years at Buxa Tiger Reserve, supported by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
One important part of the relocation is bringing female tigers, which could attract male tigers from other forest reserves and make them stay, said experts.
Buxa Tiger Reserve shares boundaries with Raimona National Park which is part of Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam, and Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan.
Experts said the January 15 sighting indicated that a tiger corridor exists and the animal can come to Buxa from Assam or Bhutan.
According to Sen, the field director of Buxa Tiger Reserve, the forest department would send the photograph of the tiger to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
The WII utilises unique stripe patterns found on tigers, similar to fingerprints, for identification. With the assistance of software, unique tiger identification numbers are generated using photographs to form national databases of the animals, facilitating census efforts.
“It will also help us find out whether this tiger was sighted earlier. In 2021, a photograph of a tiger was taken, which was not in the database. It was a new sighting. In 2023, the tiger that was photographed here was also sighted earlier at Manas Tiger Reserve,” said a forest department official.