KOCHI: The tiger census conducted in the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), one of the largest compact forest blocks in the South Western Ghats, has revealed that a healthy number of big cats are stalking in the reserve.
According to PTR officials, camera traps installed in the forest recorded movements of 25 tigers and spotted a significant number of cubs.
“The total number of tigers in the PTR is estimated at 35-40. While the previous camera-trap census had also recorded around 25 wild cats, this time tigers which were hitherto unrecorded were also spotted inside the forest. Though the number of cubs is not recorded, the census revealed a marked increase in their population,” said the officials.
“A total of 506 camera traps were installed for the census, after dividing the PTR into 253 grids. For the first time, each of four-sqkm grid in the sprawling 925-sqkm tiger reserve had its own one pair of cameras.
The camera traps were set up as per the protocol prescribed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
The ground survey took stock of the tiger population based on their pug marks, and enumeration of the co-predators and their preys in the PTR. The cats were identified mainly by analysing the several images from the cameras, on the basis on their strips. A report will be submitted to the National Tiger Conservation Authority soon,” they said.
Meanwhile, tiger census is progressing at Wayanad and the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve.
Data show that 136 tigers were spotted in Kerala in a survey conducted in 2014, which was higher by 71 compared to the 2010 figure.
Meanwhile, four tiger deaths were reported in Kerala in 2016 - one each in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary; at Nilambur; in Wayanad and at Achenkovil.
Currently, the Forest Department is in the process of installing 800 more camera traps in tiger reserves across the state to monitor the movement of the wild animals.