Tiger census at KMTR to commence on January 27

Addressing the media, he said that around 500 forest department staff and volunteers would be engaged in the exercise and the study would go on till March 31. After that, compilation and release of tiger population would be done by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.

Venkatesh also said that the population estimation was last carried out in the KMTR in 2014. He said that the tiger reserve spreading at 1,600 square kilometres, including an 895 square kilometre core area, has the capacity to house 20 tigers.

During the census conducted last time, the department had confirmed that there were 15 tigers in the reserve.

Nearly 250 forest department staff have already been trained to estimate the population while the volunteers will be given a day’s training before the estimation. Each team will be provided with binoculars, cameras, GPS tracking to map the location, walkietalkie, gun and machete to make their way into the thick forest.

They will also be given paints to mark trees in areas where another team has conducted the field study. The study will be conducted in four phases, beginning with the physical observation for pug marks, scratches on trees, kills and faeces.

On completion of the exercise in all the 50 beats in the forest, the department is planning to install 500 camera traps on the routes used by the tigers. Two camera traps will be set up at each path to capture the full view of the tiger.

Traps will be used only for 25 days against the usual practice of 45 days. This year the department will be recording details in a mobile app and manually.