Besides migrants, a tiger walks from Madhya Pradesh to Bihar

Last month, when thousands of migrant workers, amidst lockdown, were traversing through several hundred kilometres to reach their home State Bihar, there was one more species which was making giant strides from the jungles of Madhya Pradesh towards Bihar. A full-grown Royal Bengal Tiger, which reportedly lost its track and territory at Bandhavgarh National Park, has entered Bihar’s Kaimur forest area.

The tiger was spotted by the Bihar Forest Department officials last week through multiple camera traps and a trail of pugmarks in Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary.

The forest of Kaimur in western Bihar is spread over 1,130 square kilometres, including 986 square kilometres of Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary. And it shares borders with Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Sources in the Forest Department said this was the first authentic evidence of a tiger roaming around in the jungles of Rohtas in Kaimur district after decades. “Apparently, the big cat has lost its territory and travelled around 200 kilometres from either Bandhavgarh National Park or Panna Tiger Reserve, both in Madhya Pradesh,” said the source.

“A male tiger was spotted through camera traps in Kaimur wildlife sanctuary in the evening of March 27. This tiger has been on the radar for quite some time,” said Principal Secretary, Forest and Environment, Dipak Kumar Singh. He added that the movement of the tiger gives ample indication of a possible tiger corridor passing through UP (Sonebhadra), Bihar (Kaimur), Jharkhand (Betla) and Madhya Pradesh (Bandhavgarh and Panna).

Bihar till now had Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve (VTR), near Bihar-Nepal border, to boast about. “VTR is home to 44 tigers, including 13 cubs. In the 70s and 80s, there was substantial number of tigers in Kaimur too. In November/December this year, we will carry a wildlife census to find out exactly how many big cats are there in Kaimur,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, AK Pandey, told Deccan Herald here on Monday.

He, however, added that there was a possibility that the tiger spotted last week in Kaimur could have transgressed from Renukoot or Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh, which also shares its border with Madhya Pradesh.