KOCHI: Disproving allegations of over-population of tigers in Wayanad wildlife sanctuary, the enumeration taken up by the Forest Department revealed a 30% decline in the national animal numbers in the sanctuary.
As per the figures released by Forest Minister A K Saseendran on Friday, there are only 84 tigers in the sanctuary. In the nationwide Tiger Census done in 2018, the forest department counted 120 tigers in the sanctuary.
As part of tiger enumeration, 297 camera traps were installed in Wayanad Sanctuary, Aralam and Kottiyoor forests. From them, images of 84 tigers were collected from 160 locations. Of the 84 tigers, 69 were in the Wayanad sanctuary, eight were in the North Wayanad division and seven in the South Wayanad division.
Of the 84 tigers 45 (54%) were enumerated in 2016, 2018 and 2022 and 39 (46%) were sighted for the first time. The analysis identified 29 male and 47 female tigers. The gender of the eight could not be confirmed. The density of tigers in the Wayanad landscape is 7.7 per 100 sq km, which is healthy, said Saseendran.