Spotting of Tiger on Cameras Lead to Discovery of Timber Depots in Namdapha

The Namdapha National Park falls in the Changlang district of the state which shares an international boundary with Myanmar.
Spotting of Tiger on Cameras Lead to Discovery of Timber Depots in Namdapha

ITANAGAR: Spotting of a wild Royal Bengal Tiger on camera traps in the fringe areas of the Namdapha Tiger Reserve led to the discovery of a huge depot of illegal timber in the core area of the protected area.

Namdapha National Park was said to be void of the Royal Bengal Tiger for over eight years before one of them was seen again. In the second sighting, one more tiger was captured on the cameras near the Deban Forest Inspection Bungalow in the beginning g of the year. This triggered a team of experts comprising officials from the administration as well as the forest department to venture into the reserved forest.

A team led by the Deputy Commissioner of the Chaglang district of Arunachal Pradesh Sunny K Singh unearthed several depots of illegally fell timber in the core regions of the park during this endeavour. He mentioned that the timber smugglers had created a 20km stretch of road inside the core area for the transportation of the timber.

The Deputy Commissioner also mentioned that this motorable road was suitable only for small trucks and that a small part of it lies inside the core area, a major part of this road came in the buffer zone of the park. He also mentioned that the wood-based industries operate out of the Changland district under the permission of the forest department to cut a limited number of trees, but these rules were being violated.

"The problem is that the persons involved in timber operations cut more trees beyond the prescribed quota. They even constructed a road at the national park up to the core area and resorted to rampant illegal felling of trees and extracted timber from inside the park since November last year. It was a tough operation and the smugglers made it even more difficult by blocking our way with logs. However, our team members showed unmatched strength and cleared the path," mentioned Sunny K Singh

The Namdapha National Park falls in the Changlang district of the state which shares an international boundary with Myanmar.

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