BENGALURU: After finding a dead 54-year-old shepherd, partially devoured by a tiger in Kundhakere range under Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) on Tuesday morning — which recorded the third death in this reserve in a month — the forest department is turning to technology to keep people living within or around the reserves alerted about tiger movements in their areas.
The forest department is putting up a series of camera traps and setting up an alert system to inform villagers of the movements of tigers to build up confidence among them and ensure there are no conflicts.
BTR Director, Ramesh Kumar, said cameras are being installed and cages will also be put up. In case a tiger is found wandering it will be captured and released inside the forest area to ensure there is minimal conflict. “We are working on putting in an alert system and informing the locals and panchayats of the tigers. The panchayat members are being involved in the exercise of creating awareness,” he said, adding that there is a need to build confidence among the people.
There are also plans of radio-collaring the captured tigers before releasing them deep inside the forest reserves, so it would be easier to track them, and the data about their movements could then be relayed to the locals and panchayats in almost real-time.
Nagarhole Tiger Reserve (NTR) Director, Harshakumar Chikkanaragund, said an alert system has already been put in place to track the movements of tigers to raise awareness. Day and night operations are being carried out to keep vigil and conduct patrolling. The trial was found to be successful, and a similar model is being implemented in Kodagu to reduce man-elephant conflicts.
The forest department has also taken up an exercise of conducting a census of tigers residing in the border areas, apart from the ones that roam around.
Trap images to be logged in head office
A forest official privy to these plans, but who requested anonymity, said when people enter forests to let their cattle graze, and an attack takes place, the forest officials are forced to capture the carnivore and send it to rescue centres.
“To reduce this, an alert system is being put up. The camera trap images will be recorded in the head office as well as at the offices of the range forest officers,” he explained. “There are also incidents wherein false alarms are sounded. To stop this, camera trap images would be useful. The images will also help teams of foresters to monitor tiger movements.”