Annual tiger census in State from today

The annual tiger census in the State would be carried out in all forest divisions from Friday, said Forest and Environment Secretary Suresh Mohapatra on Thursday.

Nearly 900 cameras would be installed at all the forest divisions to count the tiger population using the camera trap and other indirect evidence methods like pug identification methods, said sources.

The State Government is hopeful that there would be an increase in the number of tigers given the evidence regarding presence of big cats in Chahala near Similipal in Mayurbhanj district.

Apart from tigers, leopards and other animals of the big cat family would also be covered under the census.

For the first time, the authorities are trying to conduct the census in the Maoist-infested Sunabeda sanctuary in Nuapada district keeping in view the presence of security forces in the region now.

“Forest officials have been given adequate training from the Kanha National Park; and it will be a big exercise which will be carried out in all forest divisions for a week,” said Mohapatra.

All the data would be sent to Government of India; and then, the exact number of tigers would be known, he said.

Mohapatra also informed that the number of dolphins in the State has also gone up. As per the latest census, the Chilika lake has registered presence of 162 dolphins while Gahirmatha in the Bhitarakanika National Park has 307, he added.