Shimla, June 18 -- The unexpected appearance of a Royal Bengal tiger in the forests of Paonta Sahib has put forest officials from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on high alert, initiating close monitoring of the big cat's movements. A team from Rajaji National Park, Dehradun, is set to visit the area later this week to track the tiger. It was captured on camera in the Khara block of the Paonta Sahib forest range in Sirmaur district on Monday evening, providing the first concrete evidence of a tiger's presence in the area following months of insistence by residents of Tokka and Lie villages who reported seeing vultures circling overhead. Forest officials are also verifying the claims of local residents who say there have been two tigers moving in the area for the past two years. "Local residents have claimed to have seen two tigers. We are searching for the evidence. Though we have seen pug marks, scratches on trees and territorial markings, we are awaiting evidence for which camera traps have been installed," said Paonta Sahib forest range officer Surender Sharma. While the forest department has yet to ascertain the animal's gender, field teams scanning a 500-hectare radius discovered fresh pugmarks, territory urine markings, and claw marks on trees, indicating the tiger has actively frequented the zone for several days. Rajaji National Park (Dehradun) director Koko Rose said, "A team will visit Paonta Sahib to inspect the site later this week and examine the camera trap images." While speaking to HT over the phone, Rose didn't rule out the possibility that it could be the same tiger that has not been documented in Rajaji National Park for nearly a year. The Paonta Sahib forest range and Rajaji National Park share the same landscape and ecological corridor. He added, "The tiger spotting in Ponta Sahib is a very healthy sign as animals are moving in the adjacent areas. The recently operational elevated stretch of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, which passes through Rajaji National Park, may also be facilitating safer movement of wildlife between Uttarakhand and neighbouring states. The nearly 12-km elevated corridor has been designed to maintain ecological connectivity and reduce disturbance to wildlife habitats." In February 2023, a tiger was captured on a camera trap in Simbalbara National Park for the first time. The Bengal tiger, listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, enjoys the highest level of legal protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Bengal tigers primarily prey on large herbivores such as sambar and blue bull. They require dense vegetation for stalking prey and dependable water sources, making their presence a strong indicator of suitable habitat conditions. Although officials did not find any recent animal carcasses during their survey, the presence of numerous vultures in the vicinity, which typically feed on leftover prey, further suggested the tiger's presence. Forest officials have already sensitised local nomadic Gujjar and Gaddi shepherd communities to bypass the specific forest block, while simultaneously expanding camera trap grids and initiating preliminary discussions to push for declaring the landscape a protected tiger reserve....