Tiger census begins at Odisha's Similipal reserve

Around 13 assistant conservators of forest along with 21 rangers, 209 forest guards and 380 protest assistants have been engaged for the survey in the first phase which will continue for seven days.
The big cat census of 2018 had put Odisha’s tiger population at 28.
The big cat census of 2018 had put Odisha’s tiger population at 28.

BHUBANESWAR/BARIPADA: The quadrennial estimation of tiger population in Odisha’s Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) commenced on Friday. The All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) - 2022 was launched in STR following training of forest personnel by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) recently. 

Around 13 assistant conservators of forest along with 21 rangers, 209 forest guards and 380 protest assistants have been engaged for the survey in the first phase which will continue for seven days. The forest personnel have already attended a mock drill and orientation programme convened by the experts at Chahala inside the tiger reserve on Tuesday, said Regional Chief Conservator of Forest (RCCF) and Field Director of STR M Yogajayanand. 

The first phase exercise will include sign survey for three days after which the ‘line transect sampling’ will be done to find out prey species abundance, vegetation and human disturbances.  After completion of the first phase exercise, the Wildlife Institute of India will compile the data with geographic information systems (GIS) for identification of potential sites for installation of cameras traps.  The camera trapping exercise will be conducted in the third phase in which around 500 cameras will be used for the enumeration in the tiger reserve. 

The tiger estimation this time includes use of the mobile application - Monitoring System for Tiger-Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-STrIPES) - to make the exercise error free.  Apart from Similipal, the big cat census will take place in other forests including Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary, a proposed tiger reserve. The big cat census of 2018 had put Odisha’s tiger population at 28.

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