Shimla - A fully grown tiger caught on a camera-trap in Himachal Pradesh's 27.88-sq-km Simbalbara National Park, which supports dense Sal forests with grassy landscape and diverse wildlife and bird species, has sent foresters and wildlife conservationists into a tizzy as they say the wild cat was captured for the first time in the state.
The news comes as a major boost for state wildlife as elephants are the sporadic visitors to the Simbalbara National Park in the Paonta Valley in Sirmaur district that lies in the Shivalik hills, adjacent to Haryana's Kalesar National Park.
On the spotting of the tiger, Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife) N. Ravisankar told IANS on Wednesday that its pugmark was spotted on the periphery of the national park on January 16. "Since then our teams led by Range Officer Surender Singh were constantly working to trace the whereabouts of the tiger. We have installed eight camera traps at various locations in the park to record its presence," he said.
"A clear picture of the tiger has been seen four days ago in one of the cameras in which the tiger is seen sauntering in the park," Ravisankar added.
Forest Department officials believe the movement of the tiger is likely between the Simbalbara National Park and the adjoining Kalesar National Park in Haryana, both parks support diverse prey species.
But they are certain that the tiger has come from the Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand over a month and a half months back.
"The Simbalbara National Park and its surrounding areas have reported tiger sightings over the decades, but no conclusive evidence of their presence was ever found. This is the first documentation in the park, of course, big cat spotting brings cheer," a wildlife conservationist told IANS.
The tiger is rare in Himachal Pradesh. "In such a situation, the presence of tiger in the state is considered a good sign for both biodiversity and eco-tourism," he said.
"In the footage, the tiger seems healthy, a clear indication that the park supports enough prey species to sustain it with no chance of conflict with another predator," said another official.
After the spotting of the tiger's pugmark, the department claimed that it started removing 'Lantana camara' in the park, so that the tiger does not have difficulty in moving.
Invasive lantana grass threatens the tiger habitats.
For tracking the movement of the tiger, the Forest Department took assistance of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, to install eight camera-traps.
According to the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), the Simbalbara National Park is the only conservation area in Himachal Pradesh where the occurrence of tiger and elephant has been reported.
In a faunal survey by the ZSI in 2005 and 2006, tiger pugmarks and scats were observed in two instances. One scat sample collected was composed of pure soil with abundant undigested ants, while another scat sample composed of digested bones in the form of powdery calcareous substance along with undigested hairs.
Although Simbalbara supports a good prey base for large carnivores, its smaller size is not suitable for a tiger to reside permanently, says the ZSI.
In November last, a herd of elephants was spotted in Simbalbara National Park, which is now renamed as Sher Jung National Park.
On the habitat of the elephants, the ZSI says since grass is the major food item for elephants, the smaller size and deciduous vegetation of Simbalbara, without much grassland, cannot sustain an elephant herd for a longer period. Hence the park is not an attractive habitat for the elephant.
On the tiger's presence in Simbalbara, Ravisankar said the water flow in the Yamuna river is minimized during winter and there "is possibility that it reached up to Simbalbara from the Rajaji National Park in neighbouring Uttarakhand.
Upbeat over the spotting of tiger, wildlife experts say this is good to know that a tiger is able to reach up to Simbalbara. They say the contiguity of Rajaji- Kalesar-Simbalbara makes the landscape extremely important and worth protecting.
Simbalbara, originally the hunting ground for the Maharaja of Sirmaur, is home to the sambhar, spotted deer (cheetal), barking deer, wild boar, the blue bull and many other prey mammals.
The park shares a boundary with the Darpur, Majra and Nagli reserve forests with seasonal and perennial streams.
The spotting of tiger in Himachal Pradesh assumes significance as there are plans by the National Tiger Conservation Authority for reintroducing tigers in the western part of Rajaji from the eastern landscape.
Previously, the Simbalbara National Park, the Kalesar National Park and the Rajaji National Park were well-connected tiger corridors.
The Simbalbara National Park, located along the Nahan-Ponta Sahib road, is some six km from Puruwala. Ponta Sahib is about 18 km from the national park.