The recent sightings of snow leopard, Tibetan wolf, Himalayan tahr and other wildlife near the Sunderdhunga glacier in the Bageshwar forest division has raised the spirits of Forest Department staff and wildlife enthusiasts.
The Kumaon circle chief conservator of forests, Param Jit Singh said that the Tibetan wolf was rarely seen in this area in the past. Pug marks of snow leopard and other signs were also found in this area which shows the importance of this place which is also rich in musk deer and tahr among other wildlife, he added. Recently, Singh along with Bageshwar divisional forest officer DS Meena had organised an expedition to know the status of wildlife at high altitudes under the research entitled ‘A base line survey for snow leopards and other high altitudes wildlife in the parts of District Bageshwar (Sunderdhunga Glacier)’.
A four member team comprising statistical officer Shankar Kumar, assistant statistical officer Pramod Kumar and Vipul Maurya who is pursuing a PhD on snow leopards in parts of Garhwal and Kumaon, conducted a field survey and set up the camera traps in parts of Sunderdhunga region. According to Shankar Kumar, the Tibetan wolf was captured on camera trap at about 3,500 m altitude. Other species including Himalayan tahr, musk deer, blue sheep, pika, and red fox were also captured on the camera trap.
This region is a good habitat for these species with the upper reaches of Bageshwar division being potentially good habitat for snow leopard. “We are trying to identify these places and the status of this elusive cat as well as other high altitude predators so that a strategy can be made to protect them,” he said.
According to Maurya, “The presence of Tibetan Wolf is surprising in this valley. This area is rich faunal diversity with a healthy presence of prey species. Our survey also confirms the presence of snow leopard. A total of 25 signs found during the survey comprised 20 signs (pugmarks) of snow leopards between 3,245 metres and 4,618 metres altitude,” he informed.