Orissa Similipal staff plan a foolproof count

BARIPADA: Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR), India’s second largest tiger reserve, is preparing for the national tiger count in November. This national park is in the news for its dwindling number of tigers and frequent elephant deaths. �Sources said the tiger reserve officials are planning to use both camera trap and pugmark methods to count the big cats. On earlier occasions, only pugmark method was used and it varied largely from the camera trap counting. Using pugmark method, the authorities had counted 101 tigers in STR in 2004. In 2009, the number came down to 61, including 16 males, 31 females and 14 cubs. But the report of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institution of India (WII) indicated that STR has an estimated 23 (12-34) tigers as per 2010 census, which was conducted by camera trapping methods. �Regional Conservator of Forests (RCF) Anup Nayak said NTCA this time was planning to count the big cats through both the methods. “It will be finalised after a meeting followed by a training of officials for the counting,” he said. �Sources said NTCA will prepare a protocol to be followed by all tiger reserves and it may rope in some NGOs besides the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). This time, the officials want a fool-proof count which shouldn’t be confusing like previous years. �Field trials have already begun __ the staff are getting good pictures from cameras put up at nine places. “We had fixed six cameras at Upper Barhakamuda, two at Jenabil and one at National Park. All have several pictures of tigers,” said a forest official. He said the WII last time also had used 10� cameras on a trial basis. �Besides tigers, the STR is home to about 432 wild elephants. The national park, with a total area of 2,750 sq km, is a treasure house of 1,076 species of plants belonging to 102 families. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/similipal-staff-plan-a-foolproof-count/182059-60-117.html