A Royal Bengal tiger has been seen in Upper Assam, India, demonstrating the benefits of conservation efforts.
According to Pratidin Time, the Assam Forest Department announced that this was the first time the animal had been seen in Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. Officials said that a trail camera caught the historic footage.
A Royal Bengal Tiger has been sighted for the first time at Salibari in the Kundaghat area of Dibru-Saikhowa National...
Posted by EastMojo on Tuesday, January 20, 2026
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," forest guard Santanu Phukan told Pratidin Time. "This confirmation will hopefully strengthen conservation efforts, boost tourism and help position eastern Assam as a major wildlife destination."
The IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species lists Bengal tigers as endangered, though its last assessment was in 2010.
The World Wildlife Fund-India stated that tiger populations and habitats have been declining, with about 95% of their range destroyed. This is largely due to agriculture and other human activities taking over land once occupied by tigers.
India's Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 prohibits poaching, and advocates also frown upon tiger farming. Raising tigers in captivity isn't the same as letting them live freely in the wild. The practice is detrimental to how their species functions within ecosystems.
When tigers are around, the rest of the environment flourishes.
The WWF asserted that if tigers' habitats are protected, at least nine major watersheds would also receive protection. That would equate to providing clean water for 800 million people across Asia.
The Bengal tiger sighting in Upper Assam is another piece of evidence for strategically using trail cameras. When placed in the right spots, trail cameras can help researchers observe animals when they're not physically present, reducing human-wildlife interactions and providing insight into animals in their natural state.
Trail cameras have also supported studies of hedgehogs in the U.K., wild buffalo in Thailand, and many other animals around the world. Stories like these show that conservation work can do a lot of good.
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$200 or more 💰 People in Upper Assam aren't giving up on Royal Bengal tigers any time soon. Debashish Dutta, a forest range officer for Dibru Saikhowa's Guijan range, said that the park has a lot of potential.
"This clearly establishes that Dibru Saikhowa has the ecological conditions required for tigers. It has the potential to emerge as a new site for tiger conservation," Dutta told Pratidin Time.
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