Only conservationists can be delighted on seeing as loathsome an animal as a hyena in a tiger reserve.

They have every reason to feel so as this animal is an important part of the eco-system.

No wonder then that the image of a striped hyena captured on camera at Alinagar, Dongapalli and Mallial in Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) in Adilabad has sent a wave of cheer among those who are working towards improvement of the habitat to bring back tigers.

The hyena has appeared just when everyone concerned thought that it is extinct in Telangana or Andhra Pradesh, for that matter.

“This image is the first one after a gap of over a decade,” points out Imran Siddiqui of the Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society (HyTICoS), an NGO involved in habitat improvement in KTR for the last 13 years.

Good sign

“It is a good sign as the scavenger hyena has a great relevance to tiger habitat,” he says .

The presence of the hyena, which usually trails the big cat in search of the remnants of the kill made by the later, is considered precursor to the arrival of the tiger, says official