ROURKELA: A tiger suspected to have travelled from the Sanjay-Duburi Tiger Reserve (SDTR) in Madhya Pradesh (MP), was recently spotted in the Tora Forest Reserve within the Bonai Forest Division (BFD) of Sundargarh district.
According to Bonai divisional forest officer (DFO) Lalit Patra, forest authorities became aware of the tiger’s presence during scheduled checks conducted every 25 days. The tiger was captured on camera trap footage on February 26 at 7.04 pm, within the expansive Tora Forest Reserve spanning 1,57, 22,869 hectare across Barsuan and Koida ranges of the BFD.
This marks the first camera evidence of a tiger recorded within the BFD limits, providing concrete proof of the tiger’s presence in the area. Previous claims of tiger sightings lacked scientific or pictorial evidence.After sharing photographs of the RBT with authorities from the SDTR in MP, it was confirmed that the tiger had migrated around 1,000 km from the reserve, Patra added.
The forest official further informed that since April 2023, a comprehensive survey employing a landscape-level approach and modern technology has been underway in the BFD. The survey aims to assess and safeguard the region’s wildlife population and biodiversity, identify critical areas, and establish multiple wildlife corridors, he added.
In addition to tigers, the study areas have revealed the presence of various wildlife species, including sloth bears, leopards, jungle cats, Small Indian civets, Common Palm civets, ratels, elephants, wild pigs, barking deer, mouse deer, four-horned antelopes, and langurs.
Past instances of tiger sightings in the BFD include a tigress spotted near the SAIL mines at Tensa in 2012. Although only pug marks were available as evidence at the time, subsequent investigations led by wildlife experts confirmed the presence of adult tigers and two young ones in the area.
The continuous forests shared between RFD and BFD, along with the vast Sarada forest in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, serve as potential habitats for tigers, with historical records indicating their presence in the region over two decades ago.