Satakosia begins its tiger census
BHUBANESWAR: Forest officials have started a tiger census in Satakosia tiger reserve after failing to spot any big cat since 2010. "The 14 cameras installed inside the reserve have captured only three images of tigers since 2010 census," said conservator of forests (Angul circle) Pandav Behera.
He said the current exercise, minimum tiger estimate, is massive. It aims to gather inputs of tiger movements to get the exact figure. "We have engaged about 80 units deploying around 250 staff in both Satakosia and Mahanadi wildlife divisions for the seven-day exercise. We have also developed a format to record the daily progress of census," said Behera. He said they would submit the census report to the Wildlife Institute of India and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
In the first three days, the officials will count the herbivores in the reserve, as the unique habitat is also home to elephants, gharials, pangolins, deer, barking deer and wild boar. "This is a study of the entire habitat, which will analyse pug mark, animal defecation, food remnants and prey population besides tapping images from trap cameras," said principal chief conservator of forest J D Sharma.
The state government had declared 963 sq km area on the bank of Mahanadi as tiger reserve in 2007. According to official records, then there were 18 tigers in the reserve.
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