Guwahati, March 3: Camera has for the first time captured a picture of a tiger at Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary in Nagaon district bringing joy to wildlife enthusiasts.

This joy is evident as the habitat has substantially improved after the rhino population at Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary was wiped out in 1983 when poachers killed 40 rhinos during the Assam Agitation.

Both Laokhowa and Burachapori wildlife sanctuaries are parts of the Kaziranga-Orang riverine landscape which has been identified as a major gateway for straying animals within the protected areas of central Assam.

Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary is on the south bank of the Brahmaputra. It was declared a reserve forest in 1907 and was upgraded to a wildlife sanctuary in 1979 with an area of 70.1 square km. Burachapori wildlife sanctuary is just north of Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary. It was declared a reserve forest in 1974 followed by a wild-life sanctuary in 1995 and is spread over 44.06 square km.

Four tigers have been reported from the wildlife sanctuary, but this is for the first time that a camera-trapped picture of a Royal Bengal tiger was snapped.

“This is the first time that a female Royal Bengal tiger was trapped in a camera on February 26 though there have been an ample evidences of presence of tiger pug marks. It was located on the western side of the sanctuary. It shows that wildlife is thriving back in the sanctuary and is a conservation success,” the divisional forest officer of Nagaon wildlife division, P. Shiv Kumar, told The Telegraph.

The research cell of Laokhowa Bura Chapori Wildlife Conservation Society (LBCS), formed in 2009, has helped in the camera-trapping exercise. Kumar said lot of efforts had been made in the past seven to eight years to improve the condition of the sanctuary and a number of eco-development committees had been found.

There are 28 anti-poaching camps. Smarajit Ojah of the LBCS said this was a piece of news to be cheered as they and the Nagaon wildlife division have undertaken the task of monitoring the tigers and the other prey animals of Laokhowa and Burhachapori wildlife sanctuaries along with the adjoining Brahmaputra river islands.

Modern field tools such as camera traps have now become indispensable for wildlife conservation efforts as camera trap photographs help in monitoring and understanding the presence, habitat usage and behaviour of wild animals such as tigers which are hard to spot in their natural habitat. Such data is necessary in order to generate authentic scientific information to ensure long-term survival of our wildlife. Experts are now finding out whether the tiger has moved from Kaziranga.

“This is an important finding convincingly proving that the Brahmaputra islands work as a stepping stone for animals to move across. It is thus necessary to protect the Kaziranga-Orang riverine landscape to protect animals in the future,” Firoz Ahmed, wildlife biologist of Aaranyak, a wildlife NGO, said.