Forest officials have installed 40 camera traps and formed special teams to monitor the movement of a tigress and three of her cubs to ensure their protection in the Surai range of Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar after a video of the family’s presence in the region went viral on social media, an official said.
“We were conducting patrol round-the-clock, but intensified it after the video shot by some commuters went viral in December. The viral video may pose a danger to the big cat’s family so we have installed 40 camera traps as well,” said Babu Lal, the subdivisional officer (SDO) of the Khatima forest in Udham Singh Nagar.
The Surai forest range falls in the Terai-east forest division of Kumaon and is spread over 22,000 hectares. It is rich in flora and fauna and many species of wildlife are found in the region, the official said.
A video was posted on social media on the movement of the tigress and her cubs in the third week of December. Some commuters travelling by car spotted the big cat and her family at night, 4km away from the Jhankaiya police station in Khatima. They shot the video of the tigress’s family and posted it on social media, he said.
Because the video showed the location of the family, their safety came under risk. Forest officials moved to take extra precautions to counter the threat to the tigress and her cubs.
“We monitor and unload the video of the cameras regularly. If we find the movement of any suspect, we trace him and question him. These cameras are not only helping us to monitor the movement of the tigress’s family but also other animals and suspects,” said SDO Babu Lal.
Forest officials are advising people to be cautious while travelling on the Puranpur road for their own safety and also to drive within the speed limit for the safety of the tigress and her cubs, he said.