NAGARAHOLE TIGER RESERVE: For 25-year-old anti-poaching camp watcher Chandrashekhar, excitement, enthusiasm and courage had no bounds when he learnt that he was first to start the sign survey and record the readings on the M-Stripe app, on the first day of the tiger census in Nagarhole Tiger Reserve at 6.30 am on Sunday.
It was also a sense of pride and joy for him when he was walking through the rustic misty foggy paths in Doddahalla beat in the Nagarhole Range of the tiger reserve. He was accompanied by colleagues Ashok (30), also an anti-poaching camp watcher and Girish, a forest guard. After receiving a detailed briefing from range forest officer Muhammed Zeeshan, the trio set out on the census exercise.
“Though I have been a part of the annual tiger census in the reserve, this is the first time I am part of the all-India tiger census that happens once in five years. I am nervous, but most of all, I am happy and proud. As this is my forest, my home, and my workplace, it’s now my duty to protect it. I have been briefed of how to look for signs like pug marks, scat and dung samples, scratch marks on trees or any other places, and even smell out urine signs of tigers,” Chandrashekhar said.
Zeeshan explained that during the first three days, the sign survey is being completed in all the ranges and beats of the tiger reserve, where staffers in teams of 3-4, walk a stretch of 5 km and make readings, after which the direct line transect assessment will be done, where the same teams will not just note the signs, but also the presence of herbivores and carnivores.
In the line transect assessment, the staffers will walk on already chalked-out 2 sq km grids and note all sightings and signs. If any direct sightings are found during the sign survey, it is a bonus.