PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Jyotirmath
A six-day special winter patrolling and drone survey completed successfully in the high Himalayan regions with rare wildlife including snow leopard, musk deer and Himalayan Tahr, among others being sighted during the exercise. Under the Nanda Devi national park, the Valley of Flowers range team conducted the six-day campaign for the security of high altitude Himalayan regions and monitoring wildlife.
The special campaign is conducted especially to check illegal activities in protected areas during the winter and study the conditions of wildlife in these areas. Earlier, the team departed from the Govindghat range office on February 16. The team patrolled the major areas of Ghangharia and the Valley of Flowers by February 19 while also checking security arrangements.
On February 20, the team reached the remote Simar Toli area of the Bhyundar Valley to check the conditions and wildlife in the area. Nanda Devi national park divisional forest officer Abhimanyu said that positive results have been received on checking the biodiversity and inputs from camera traps in the region.
The presence of snow leopard, musk deer, the State bird Monal pheasant, leopard, leopard cat, Himalayan bear, Himalayan serow, Himalayan Tahr, yellow throated marten and the red fox was recorded in camera traps during the special patrolling, officials said.
