MADURAI: The first phase of the four-phase All India Tiger Estimation (AITE), a nationwide exercise to assess tiger population, habitat quality and conservation outcomes, conducted in the Madurai Forest Division by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) ended on Wednesday.
This is the first tiger census in Madurai Forest Division, which lies outside the Srivilliputhur Megamalai Tiger Reserve (SMTR). The survey forms part of the Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves (TOTR) project.
Officials said the findings would help evolve solutions to mitigate human-animal conflict in non-protected areas, safeguard tigers moving beyond reserve boundaries due to habitat fragmentation.
The AITE comprises four phases. Phase I involves ground-level field surveys; Phase II focuses on GIS-based landscape mapping; Phase III covers camera trapping and individual tiger identification; and Phase IV involves annual reserve-level monitoring, to be undertaken by the Srivilliputhur Megamalai Tiger Reserve. The survey is scheduled for completion by July 2026, officials said.
The phase I survey fieldwork was carried out in 11 selected beats across Usilampatti and Sholavandan ranges. Forest staff documented indirect evidence such as pug marks, scat and fur samples of tigers and associated species, including jungle cat, Indian gaur, sloth bear and wild dog, using the MSTrIPES Ecological App.
S Anand, Conservator of Forests and Field Director, SMTR, supervised the exercise.