Kolkata, Apr 20 (IANS): A joint team comprising officials from the West Bengal Forest Department, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) will soon conduct a study on how suitable is the Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Alipurduar district for the habitation of Royal Bengal tigers.

Since 1998, there was no evidence confirming the presence of tigers in the BTR. But in December 2021, a tiger was spotted in the forest reserve zone.

It was however later confirmed that the big cat had migrated to the zone temporarily.

Forest Department sources that the survey will be an exploratory exercise to have an idea on how the state government's plan to make BTR an ideal abode for the Royal Bengal tigers in the long run.

The sources said that the basic process on this count was started by the Department and an agreement has been reached with the Assam government to bring a couple of tigers from there and release them in BTR to increase the big cat population.

"However, despite adopting these preliminary steps, the state government wants to ensure how suitable BTR is as an ideal Royal Bengal Tiger abode before actually getting te big cats from Assam. In all probability, the joint team might start its survey work from next month," a Department official said.

He said that at the same time, the assignment to develop BTR as an ideal tiger abode will also continue side-by-side.

The first step on this count is to ensure ample availability of staple food for tigers within the reserve zone.

Recently, 86 spotted deer were brought to BTR from the Ballavpur sanctuary in Birbhum district.

According to the Department official, although BTR has enough sambar deer and barking deer, the spotted deer are the favourite of the Royal Bengal tigers.

"Our first idea is to make arrangements for enough food for the tigers in the region so that they will not have to move elsewhere in search of food. If necessary, more spotted deer will be released in the reserve zone," he added.