A trip to the Sunderbans to celebrate World Wildlife Day on Friday could not have been more memorable for a group of children.
On a boat off the Bonnie Camp, near the southernmost tip of West Bengal where the Hooghly meets the Bay of Bengal, the students saw a tiger in the wild for the first time in their lives.
The big cat was crossing a creek, called Sundarkati, when it came near the boat.
“Upon seeing the boat, the tiger paused for a few moments, as if posing for pictures. Then, it continued swimming to the forest bank and disappeared behind the green cover,” said a forest official of the South 24-Parganas division.
The tiger was a likely resident of the Ajmalmari 8 forest compartment, the official said.
“The students’ trip was organised to celebrate World Wildlife Day and what better experience than seeing the mascot of the Sunderbans from close quarters,” said Milan Mandal, divisional forest officer of South 24-Parganas.
The students came from a school for marginalised children in Jharkhali, in the Sunderbans. On Friday, they were also shown a film on the rich biodiversity of the mangroves.
The Sunderbans Tiger Reserve also organised a daylong programme for over 100 children at different forest camps.
Forest officials in the Sunderbans are hopeful of a rise in the tiger population.
Around 1,100 trap cameras are being taken off from over 550 strategic locations spread across the mangroves in the South 24-Parganas forest division. The cameras were placed in January for the annual census conducted by the state forest department to ascertain the number of tigers. Before the South 24-Parganas division, the cameras were placed inside the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve.
The findings of the national tiger census of 2022 are also awaited. As part of the national census, trap cameras were placed in the Sunderbans between December 2021 and February 2022.
The national census happens once every four years, while the state census is an annual exercise.
The 2018 national census had estimated 88 tigers in the Sunderbans.
The 2020-21 state census had found 96 tigers.
“The preliminary pictures on trap cameras are encouraging. We expect the number to go well over 100,” said a forest official.
