Telangana census puts tiger count at 14; department says actual number could be 26-28

The latest annual wildlife census report for Amrabad Tiger Reserve(ATR) in Telangana which was released Friday has identified the presence of 14 tigers and 43 other wildlife species. However, the department is of the view that around 26 to 28 tigers could be present in the tiger reserve.

The ATR is spread across 2611.4 sq km over Nagarkurnool and Nalgonda districts of Telangana. It is the second largest tiger reserve in the country in terms of core area and sixth largest among 51 tiger reserves in the country in terms of total area.

B Srinivas, director of Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) circle, told indianexpress.com that there could be around 26 to 28 tigers in the entire tiger reserve. “This is an annual exercise to monitor tiger movements and prey density in the core area of the reserve. It is done basically to improve our database. Of the 14 tigers identified from the core area now, identities of 10 were already available in our database. On the whole, there could be 26 or 28 tigers in the entire reserve,” he said.

The previous census or phase-IV monitoring conducted in 2019 had identified only 12 tigers in the core area of ATR as compared to 14 in the 2020-21 census. “To know the total tiger population in ATR, we will take up a census as part of All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) exercise with NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority) and WII (Wildlife Institute of India) by the end of 2021. The results will be available in 2022,” he said.

The phase-IV monitoring in the core area is conducted annually for monitoring the tigers in every Tiger Reserve in India. Besides, estimation of prey population density (i.e. spotted deer, Sambar, Nilgai, Wild pigs, four-horned antelope and chinkara etc) is done by Line Transect Estimation (LTE) method.

The phase-IV monitoring and estimation gives an idea to the Protected Area Managers, how the Prey-Predator densities are there in the protected areas. This will also indicate areas in the PA that have good prey densities, areas with more movement of tigers, and also help identify areas that are disturbed and require management intervention.

According to the Forest Department, the population density of ungulates in the LTE exercise is estimated and the top spot was occupied by spotted deers along with wild pigs. About 2.40 of them were found to be present per square kilometre area. This was followed by the presence of Sambar (1.65 individuals per sq km), Nilgai (1.41 individuals per sq km), and common langurs (1.37 individuals per sq km).

A water hole census was also conducted this year, the results of which show that early morning hours and evening hours were preferred timings by ungulates for visiting water holes to drink water. A total of 43 wild animal species were recorded.