“This sighting demonstrate the importance of the Kangchenjunga Landscape in eastern Nepal, and it needs special attention since the forests provide connectivity to the Singalia National Park in India, North Sikkim and the Dooars of North Bengal,” said Madhuri Karki Thapa of Nepal’s Department of Forests and Soil Conservation.
Ang Phuri Sherpa, Country Director of the Red Panda Network agrees: “The first-ever record of a tiger in Ilam district demonstrates the significance of this nature corridor in eastern Nepal, and it needs to be a global conservation priority.”
Conservationists say that the finding broadens the scope of potential high-altitude habitats for tigers in Nepal, and the need to establish ecological corridors for the safe crossborder dispersal of wildlife and the conservation of species.