A glimpse of the national park as seen from Lava

Jalpaiguri, Feb. 14: Officials in forest reserves across the region ? from the Mechi to the Sankosh ? were recently engaged in monitoring wild animals, but for foresters in the Neora Valley National Park the experience was markedly different.

Spread over 88 sq km of hilly terrain, the national park is easily one of the most daunting challenges for forest surveyors. It falls within Kalimpong subdivision of Darjeeling district and has an elevation between 3,000 ft and 10,000 ft. According to forest officials, at altitudes like this, pug marks of wild animals are often covered in snow while the thick foliage makes tracking extremely difficult. In fact the task of monitoring animals is so difficult in this terrain that this survey, which concluded on February 12, according to forest officials, was the first comprehensive survey undertaken here.

The national park which falls under Wildlife-2 division of the state forest department houses more than 30 species of mammals, including thr red panda, clouded leopard, mithun, ghoral, wild dog, leopard, Himalayan black bear, Himalayan thar, leopard cat and the Royal Bengal Tiger. Over 106 species of birds including eagle, tragopan, babbler, robin, thrush, sunbird and barbet are also found here.

?We formed 15 teams and surveyed the forest area in two stretches ? from Ambiok to Rachella Danda and from Samsing to Thosum. The park, unlike most of the reserve forests of north Bengal, is located in hilly terrain and as a result our staff faced certain problems,? said Tapas Das, divisional forest officer (wildlife-2) of Jalpaiguri. Das was himself present at the national park during the monitoring sessions.

According to Das, the monitoring teams moved from the bordering areas of the forest and criss-crossed the entire park area as part of their survey. The monitoring teams covered places like Chauddapheri, Alubari, Jorepokhri, Bhotekharka located within the park and came upon tiger scat, leopard scat, pug marks of wild dogs, wild bear rakes, dung of wild boar, fresh carcass of preys and similar evidence confirming the presence of tigers there.

?In Jorepokhri, located at 10,000 ft, our staff found it difficult to go about their task as snowfall is still going on there. The area is covered with snow making it difficult to locate pug marks and other evidence. In areas of comparatively lower altitude, work was difficult because of the thick cover of foliage on the ground. Despite these obstacles, our staff tried their best to come back with evidence,? said Das.

The monitoring sessions in the region are a prelude to the tiger census and are primarily aimed at locating tigers, co-predators (like leopards), and prey. This time the tiger census will be conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun, while the monitoring sessions were being done by respective state forest departments on their behest.