In a groundbreaking discovery, a tiger was spotted in the Dampa Tiger Reserve after a gap of long years in Mizoram. The last time the national animal was spotted in the area was back in 2014, after which there were no concrete proof of tigers in the region. As per the Tiger Census of 2018 ,there was no Tiger was found at Dampa Tiger Reserve.
C. Lalbiaka, the Field Director of Dampa Tiger Reserve confirmed the presence of the tiger in the State after a long period of lack of proof of the same. Although many conservation experts claimed about the same, there was no concrete evidence.
The proof came when wildlife enthusiast and forest guard Zakhuma Don laid the camera trap in the month of February 2021 inside the reserve forest to monitor the animals of the park. Don checked the camera traps on May 16 after almost three months only to surprise him with an image which looked like a tiger hidden behind a bush.
Don immediately reported the image to the concerned authorities and in the same evening wildlife experts from Wildlife Institute of India, Dr.Lallianpuii Kawlni and her team confirmed that the image taken by Zakhuma Dom to be a Tiger.
A forest guard posted in the same park reported spotting pug marks what were believe to be the footprints of a tiger back in 2020. But it was not confirmed .Even though a camera trap was set up, no confirmatory was captured .
