Need to create forest corridors, expert says

NEW DELHI: The spate of tigers straying into west Uttar Pradesh districts is a fallout of the success of conservation in the Corbett landscape and one of the solutions lies in creating corridors that would lead big cats into other forests in the region, say experts.

Corbett National Park has the highest tiger density in the world — at around 20 per 100 sq km. Even the surrounding forests are brimming to capacity, with one study finding a density of 15 tigers per 100 sq km in the Ramnagar forest division.

“Young tigers have to find a territory of their own. Usually, such a tiger travels randomly and keeps travelling till it finds a place free of other tigers. In Corbett, this search may take a tiger outside the forest,” said wildlife biologist Qamar Qureshi from Wildlife Institute of India.

Qureshi said forest corridors must be created linking Corbett with Rajaji National Park and other forests in the Shivalik. “In time, tigers would redistribute over this larger area. Otherwise, the problem will keep recurring,” he added.

Panic Thursday

Tiger chases a biker in Bijnor’s Kalagarh tehsil

In the same tehsil, a tiger and tigress kill a buffalo at Kandi road near the UP-Uttarakhand border

Tiger attacks and critically injures an elephant at Amaangarh forest range in Bijnor

Agricultural workers see a tiger near their fields in Bareilly’s Nawabganj tehsil. Animal runs away after hearing screams of villagers. On Monday, two Nilgai carcasses were found in the area