Past and present status of the Indian Tiger in northern West Bengal, India: an over

Panthera tigris: range and population collapse in Northern West Bengal, India

“…Even during early 20 th century, the riverine grassland of Gulma was a popular tiger-hunting ground. A population of 15-16 tigers was reported during last century from about 60% forests of the PA. 2 Pug-marks were seen on the river-bed. But, for many years, no sighting record is reported from Mahananda.…”

“…In the past tiger population in Kurseong Forest Division was distributed in the forest blocks contiguous to Mahananda like Lohargarh (6.92km 2 ), Bamanpokhri including Balason, Lamagumba and Pankhabari (20.33km 2 ), 2 where the habitat was dotted with grassland and shrubs and bushes. Lastly, Bagdogra (15km 2 , 26°42′N 88°19′E) under Kurseong Forest Division, 40km south of Mahananda, was so named because the place was infested with tigers even during early 20 th century.…”

“…Straying tigers were recorded from Ramshai, Panjhora, Moraghat and Nathua blocks of Jalpaiguri Forest Division during the 20 th century. 2 No record of tiger is available during last one decade in this Division. Jaldapara NP (Figure 7), the prime rhino-land in the state located in the flood plains of the River Torsa and other small rivers, also provides excellent habitat for the tiger.…”

“…Presence of six tigers was recorded in 2004 census. 2 Hunting, poaching, train accident and lack of breeding female tiger are the reasons for its decimation. There are no recent sighting records of tiger in Jaldapara.…”

Early winter avifaunal diversity from Buxa Tiger Reserve and Rasikbeel Wetland Complex of northern part of West Bengal, India

“…Presently almost all preserved areas are confronting major anthropogenic disturbances like urbanization, tourist pressure, livelihood dependence (mainly in the form of cattle grazing and fuel wood collection) and pollution (Islam and Rahmani, 2004;Mallick, 2010;Karmakar, 2011). Since British Raj a broad region of the forests has been converted to monoculture land of timber producing trees.…”