Red panda census in 2 hill forests

Siliguri, March 1: The forest department will conduct a census to find out the number of red pandas in two national parks in the hills. The first phase of the study will begin on Saturday.

The survey will cover the Neora Valley National Park in Kalimpong subdivision and Singalila National Park in Darjeeling.

Foresters said 61 teams will conduct the study in two phases — from March 3 to 7 and from April 5 to 9. Another survey would be conducted later. The reports will be submitted to the forest department by the end of this year.

Vipin Sood, the conservator of forest (wildlife), north Bengal, said this is the first time that a red panda census was being conducted in the Neora forest that got the status of a national park in 1992. “The counting of pandas at Singalila was done in 2002 and 78 animals were spotted then,” Sood said.

He said both direct and indirect methods would be used during the study. “Apart from direct sighting, the teams would also collect scat samples and look for scratch marks on trees.” The red panda is an endangered species categorised in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.