The region had tigers in the 1990s, but there has been no documented evidence to establish the status of the tiger population. Small camera trapping exercises in earlier years did not bear fruit until recently, when around 60 cameras were installed and a tiger\u2019s presence was successfully documented.<\/p>\n
The Dibru Saikhowa National Park and Biosphere Reserve comes under the Tinsukia Wildlife Division. In 1997, the biosphere reserve, with an area of 765 square kilometres, was declared. Then, in 1999, its core area of 340 sq km was declared a national park.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the inception of the national park, this is the first time a tiger has been caught on camera in Dibru Saikhowa,\u201d Bibison Tokbi, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Tinsukia Wildlife Division, tells Mongabay-India. \u201cWe captured the tiger twice on camera trap, first on December 14, 2025, and then on January 1, 2026. Both the images were of the same tiger.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds that the staff have recently discovered some pug marks of another tiger as well, indicating the presence of multiple big cats.<\/p>\n
![\"Small](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/camera-trap-of-tiger-2-e1775134062368-768x512.jpg\")
Small camera trapping exercises bore no fruit in earlier years until recently, when more extensive trapping aided shots of a tiger\u2019s presence in Dibru Saikhowa. Image courtesy of Chandra Mohan Patowary.<\/p>\n
There have been prior unconfirmed reports of tiger presence in the region, says Tokbi, whose team set up many cameras to increase the chances of photographing the tigers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2009, our staff had seen pug marks of a tiger. The incumbent DFO set up two cameras but nothing was captured on it. In 2024, DFO KN Das also tried the camera trap exercise but that didn\u2019t show anything either. When I took charge in September last year [2025], the staff told me about seeing pug marks of tigers. I arranged cameras from the Digboi division and installed 60 cameras. Finally, we tasted success this time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In addition to tigers, the camera traps also recorded species such as the black panther, leopard, leopard cat, wild buffalo, wild boar and porcupines.<\/p>\n
![\"Forest](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pug-mark-of-tiger-in-Dibru-Saikhowa_-e1775133417172.jpg\")
Forest officials say that since the camera trap images were captured, they also spotted some pug marks of another tiger, indicating the presence of several individuals. Image by Mridu Paban Phukan.<\/p>\n
According to local environmentalists, there used to be signs of a good population of tigers in Dibru Saikhowa in the 1990s. \u201cIn 1992-94, I was posted in Tinsukia, and I myself saw tiger pug marks several times in Dibru Saikhowa,\u201d says Anwaruddin Choudhury, a retired bureaucrat and environmentalist. \u201cI had raised the demand of making Dibru Saikhowa a tiger reserve at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister of Assam, K.K, Dwivedi, who was Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Tinsukia in 2007-09, adds that he too regularly received reports of tiger sightings in Dibru Saikhowa at that time. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t have camera traps to confirm its presence,\u201d he says, adding that having photographic evidence of tiger presence is a positive development.<\/p>\n
Where did the tigers go<\/p>\n
Former Honorary Wildlife Warden of Tinsukia, Joynal Abedin, shared with Mongabay-India that Dibru Saikhowa had 27 tigers in 1993 and 37 in 1997. There isn\u2019t evidence for what happened to those tigers. Choudhury suspects the tigers may have been lost to unreported poaching and loss of habitat.<\/p>\n
Being a low-lying flood plain, the park is surrounded by Brahmaputra and Lohit Rivers in the north and Dibru River in the south. \u201cSo, as the intensity of the floods increased, tigers moved elsewhere, most probably across the border to Arunachal Pradesh,\u201d says Choudhury.<\/p>\n
Researcher Shamikhu Changmai, who studies the famous feral horses<\/a> of Dibru Saikhowa, feels that the lack of prey couldn\u2019t have been the reason for the tigers moving away. \u201cI don\u2019t think finding prey is an issue for tigers here, as there are hundreds of khutis (traditional shelters for semi-nomadic herders) or cattle farms inside the forest, apart from wild prey like swamp deer and wild buffaloes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Environmentalist Mridu Paban Phukan claims that a lot of unreported poaching occurs. \u201cNot just tigers, other animals are killed by poachers in Dibru Saikhowa. I have myself seen bullet-ridden carcasses of wild buffalo,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Conservationist Niranta Gohain, who lives in the fringes of Dibru Saikhowa, supports the poaching theory. \u201cWe hear gunshot sounds here regularly at night. There should be proper investigation regarding the source of those sounds,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n DFO Tokbi, however, says there have been no incidents of poaching during his five-month tenure.<\/p>\n A unique feature of Dibru Saikhowa National Park is the presence of two designated forest villages \u2014 Laika and Dhadiya \u2014 inside the forest, in addition to 38 villages in the buffer zone of the park.<\/p>\n \u201cDibru Saikhowa became a protected forest later. We have been living here before independence,\u201d says Bilas Sing Regon, an inhabitant of Laika. \u201cThere is a school here where they teach up to Class 8. There is no primary health centre, pharmacy or market. For any essentials or emergency, we have to go to the river ghat in our boat and from there hire a vehicle up to Tinsukia, a ride which takes an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n Kadhai Sahni, who runs a khuti since three decades, says indirect encounters with big cats do occur. \u201cI have a khuti with around 70 cows. We don\u2019t see the tiger but feel its presence when it preys on our cattle. We don\u2019t ask for compensation as we live in forest land and this is the loss we have to bear,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Apart from threats from wild animals, the villagers also face frequent displacement because of floods. Some of the inhabitants of Laika were rehabilitated by the government to Jagun, a locality near Margherita in Tinsukia district. \u201c160 families from Laika were rehabilitated and there are still 400 families here. In Dadhiya, there will be around 800 families,\u201d says Regon.<\/p>\n He adds that in the 90s, when there were a lot of tigers in Dibru Saikhowa, they would kill cattle regularly. \u201cNow, if they return again, it will hurt our pockets. But this is definitely a news we welcome because what good is a forest without a tiger,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n![\"Hundreds](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/A-cattle-khuti-in-Dibru-Saikhowa_-768x512.jpg\")
Hundreds of khutis (traditional cattle farms are propped up inside Dibru Saikhowa, which the tigers often prey on aside from wild herbivores like swamp deer. Image by special arrangement.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/a-sandbar-in-Dibru-Saikhowa_-768x512.jpg\")
A sandbar in Dibru Saikhowa National Park, which is a low-lying floodplain. Image by Imon Abedin.
\nLiving with tigers <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e598edd28ae58437c69611594573348c244f4fdc359219fe38d2a5aa1bbe90de.png\")
<\/p>\n