Orang national park has reasons to celebrate

While Kaziranga National Park has earned fame by becoming the park with the highest density of tigers in India, the Orang National Park in Assam too has got signals that its tiger population is on the rise.

While tigers straying out from the 78.82 sq km park killed a dozen cattle in neighbouring villages in the past three weeks, forest guards have reported sighting at least three female tigers along with cubs in the past two months.

Declared a national park in 1999, Orang had witnessed a sharp decline in the number of tigers in the past one decade. While it had registered 25 in 2000, a recent camera-trapping count put it at 14. About 120 km northeast of Guwahati, the Orang National Park will reopen for visitors on November 1.