Tiger spotted . . .

We've great news in the wildlife front from the Palamu Tiger Reserve, which is about 10 miles from our place. Newspapers reported today about a tiger being snapped up by the automatic camera within the reserve. 

English translation: The camera trap at Palamu Tiger Reserve, Betla took the snap of a tiger on last Sunday at 9:41 pm. The forest staff has identified the tiger to be 'Maharaja'. Previous to this, the camera trap had photographed a tiger on 21st February. Over the last 2 months, tigers have been spotted thrice in the Betla National Park. It is difficult to comment on how many tigers are there. But there are tigers here.

By the way, we would going there along with the students from the Christian Medical College, Vellore sometime this week. The students are visiting us for a week under the secondary hospital program. Dr. Shubhankar Mitra from Medicine 4 is the consultant in charge.   

A Stray Leopard . . .

I wonder if anybody had read about a stray leopard which entered a house in Daltonganj, our nearest town. It sent quite a shivers down many a spine here, as our hospital is very much in a heavily forested area. I never thought that the news was in the internet till I saw the reports in TOI. Of course, it was big news in the local press. 

There had been quite a lot of deforestation and the very bad drought over the last few years had dwindled the wild animal population. 

However, the recent intrusion of this wild cat is an indication that the wild animals may have returned to the Palamu Tiger Reserve. Newspapers later reported that the foresters estimated that there were over a 100 leopards in the reserve area. There was much joy about a year back, when the forest officials reported rare sightings of the animal in trap cameras set in the reserve. 

Good news for wild-life, but frightening for many of us here. The leopard has been released back into the reserve. 

Now, we would need to be careful about venturing out in the dusk . . . especially going for calls etc. in the night. 

I would definitely like to see one. But, not inside the campus . . . roaming around. 

Leopards sighted in Betla

Hello everybody. Great news for wildlife enthusiasts from the Palamu Tiger Reserve. There have been confirmed sightings of leopards through trap cameras in the Betla National Park. According to latest estimates there are about 14 of them now in the park and there are also reports of sighting of wild dogs.

 

Couple of weeks back we had been at the park. The guides were telling us that there is a good possibility of animals coming back to the park now as the rains have been quite good and the vegetation has become quite thick. There has been news of half a dozen tigers being sighted in the Tiger Reserve area of the National Park

I hope that the wildlife authorities will build up on this advantage and promote the park as well as take steps to retain wildlife even when there is a crunch situation like a drought. The possibilities for wildlife conservation are immense in this region and I hope that the government and the wildlife enthusiasts will take interest. Below is the newspaper clipping regarding the news of the leopard sightings.

So, friends, another reason to visit us during the Golden Jubilee celebrations or being part of us for a short duration of time or maybe for a lifetime.