Forest officials on alert after Royal Bengal tiger spotted in HP forest

A Royal Bengal tiger was captured on a camera trap in Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, prompting heightened monitoring by Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand forest authorities. Officials suspect it could be a tiger missing from Rajaji National Park, while local communities have been alerted

Shimla: A Royal Bengal tiger being spotted in Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh has alerted forest authorities in the state and Uttarakhand, with officials not ruling out the possibility of the big cat being the one that went missing from the Rajaji National Park nearly a year ago.

The tiger’s movement was captured by a trap camera installed on a tree in the Khara block of the Paonta Sahib forest range on Monday, forest officials said on Thursday.

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The clips provide evidence of a tiger’s presence in the area, and the pugmarks and claw marks on trees near the camera trap suggest the animal has been frequenting the area for at least two to three days, they said.

The possibility that this big cat is the same one undocumented in the nearby Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand for nearly a year cannot be ruled out, they added.

Khara is about 80 km from the Rajaji National Park, making the interstate movement of the tiger possible.

Forest officials from both states are monitoring the tiger’s movement. The number of camera traps in the area to monitor its movement has been increased, the forest officials in Paonta Sahib said.

The gender of the big cat is yet to be ascertained.

Information regarding the tiger’s presence has been shared with the Rajaji National Park authorities and their team is expected to visit the location in the coming days, the officials said.

Gaddi shepherd communities roaming in the area have been cautioned.

Locals have claimed to have spotted a tiger in the region on multiple occasions. A tiger had been spotted in the area earlier, but there was no digital proof, said a resident, Jagat.

Last week, after almost six years, a snow leopard was also captured on a camera trap installed in the Greater Himalayan National Park in Kullu district at a height of 3,000 to 3,500 metres above sea level, the forest officials said.