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VTR can accommodate 60-65 tigers, says chief
A rally on wheels was organised by National Tiger Conservation Authority across the country on Thursday.
Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) in Bihar’s West Champaran district is equipped to accommodate 60-65 big cats given its available infrastructure, forest officials said.
As per 2018 tiger census, VTR had 31 tigers and eight cubs, of which three tigers have died.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday on the occasion of “India for Tiger — A rally on wheels”, being organised by National Tiger Conservation Authority across the country, HK Rai, wildlife conservator and field director of VTR said, “The increase in grassland coverage and water holes has resulted in a sharp surge in the population of herbivores and carnivores in the VTR. Since tiger is at the apex of the biological pyramid, VTR could well be a home to close to 65 tigers or so, according to our assessment.”
VTR is country’s 18th tiger reserve, declared in March 1994.
Spread over an area of 900 square kilometres of forest area and divided into eight ranges, it has 22 water holes and grassland on eight per cent of the total forest area.
Officials put the total number of bears between 400 and 450, leopards at 98 and gaur (indian bison) at 250-300.
Earlier in the day, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, BJP MP from West Champaran and the party’s Bihar unit president, flagged off a rally on wheels from Bettiah, the district headquarters, as part of NTCA’s plan to spread the message of biodiversity conservation under the ambit of Project Tiger and Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH) programme of ministry of environment forest and climate change (MoEFCC).
The rally on wheel from Bettiah would terminate at Palamau tiger reserve in Jharkhand after passing through over half a dozen districts of the two states, officials said.
Forest officials here said rally on wheels is scheduled to be taken out from 42 of the existing 51 tiger reserves of the country which would cover a distance of over 7500 kilometres across the country and terminate at designated focal points of celebration after following assigned routes.
“First nine tiger reserve designated during the inception of tiger project in 1973 have been made focal points of celebration. The rallies from 42 reserve would terminate at one of the first nine reserves between October 2 and October 8, 2021,” said Rai.
