Kolkata: More photos of a full grown tiger have been clicked in north Bengal’s Buxa Tiger Reserve in the past three-four days making the foresters scanning database across a huge landscape connecting the forest to Assam’s Manas National Park to find out if it already has an ID under the repository of National Tiger Conservation Authority, maintained by its tiger cell.Four additional photographs were released on Wednesday, taking the total number of images from the ongoing camera trap exercise to five. Officials said the images appears to be of the same tiger photographed on Jan 15, though confirmation will depend on strip-pattern matching.State chief wildlife warden Sandip Sundriyal said the photos have been sent to NTCA-Wildlife Institute of India tiger cell for verification.A senior scientist with WII said, “Usually, the forest department does the ID. But to have a permanent ID with Buxa, the tiger has to stay there for a longer duration, if it has not been clicked anywhere else. Till then, we will just record it with its time, date and location.”Experts said the tiger may have entered Buxa from Assam’s Manas National Park, as the reserve shares a contiguous landscape through Raimona and Bhutan’s Phibsoo. The tiger photographed in Buxa in Dec 2023 was earlier clicked and identified in Manas.
