BENGALURU: As the tiger numbers have shown fluctuations in most of the tiger reserves and forest divisions, there has been a 100 per cent rise in the number of tigers in Bannerghatta National Park (BNP).
The forest patch closest to Bengaluru, which housed one tiger according to the 2018 census report, in the 2023 tiger estimation report released on Thursday shows the forest patch has spread across 260.51 sqkms and now houses two tigers.
This has caught the attention of forest department officials and conservationists alike. The department officials are assessing to ascertain the gender of the second tiger as well as to find out where it could have come from. “It is possible the second tiger could have come from either Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary or from Tamil Nadu, which has also shown a rise in tiger numbers. The tiger could have walked from far-off locations too. It is also possible the second tiger was not photographed earlier in 2018, or was a cub and has been captured now. All the theories are being studied and will be shared with others for comparison,” said a forest department official.
The official and conservationists also have expressed their worry over the rising number in forest patch. “BNP, a thin, fragmented forest patch, is under constant threat of encroachment, mining, shrinking buffer zone and urbanisation. Not many know that it is a part of the Western Ghats landspace and an essential elephant corridor connecting to Tamil Nadu. So the presence of two tigers, shows that the habitat is promising with a good prey base. The area, thus, only calls for better protection,” said a conservationist working with the department.
The report also shows a decline by 10 tigers in BRT Tiger Reserve and a stagnation in population in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. It has counted four tigers in Mysuru territorial division and a decline in the Virajpet division. Karwar which had not recorded any tigers in 2018, recorded two in 2013, similarly Chikkamagalur recorded eight now.
APCCF, wildlife, Kuamr Pushkar said camera trap assessment is done on a 2sqkms grid with two camera traps. There are chances that many tigers do not come in the frames, in some locations the cameras are not placed due to logistic reasons. The weather, the location and the type of camera also plays a role in the assessment.