Census may show 5-10% jump in Karnataka tiger population

BENGALURU: As the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is keen on conducting the tiger census in December and releasing the new estimates by the next World Tiger Day (April 29, 2022), the Karnataka Forest Department has been making the most of the pandemic, tourist restrictions and the lockdown to conduct the camera trap census. The camera trap estimations have been completed in most tiger reserves in March-May, despite the shortage of cameras. Reserves and wildlife sanctuaries shared their cameras with each other and completed the census.

With the fear of Covid third wave looming, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) want to restrict the number of volunteers for direct sighting and other census exercises, while planning to use more technology.

Assessing the preliminary reports, forest department officials in the State said that the tiger numbers could show an increase of 5-10 per cent as compared to the previous census as increased conservation measures, reduced poaching and pandemic may have helped. NTCA and WII members said northern parts of Western Ghats from Kali Tiger Reserve to Goa will definitely show a rise in tiger population.

A senior NTCA official said, “Since Karnataka is not declaring more tiger reserves despite having promising numbers in places like Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and Kudremukh, the next potential area to become a reserve is Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. It will help protect Karnataka’s borders better.”
Qamar Qureshi, scientist, WII, said, “Work is on to start the tiger estimation by December 2021 and complete it by January 2022. Already, the camera trap estimations have started in most reserves. Emphasis is on using mobile phone technology, like M-Stripe, this year. Last time, 50 percent technology was used for the census, this time the aim is to increase it to 90-100 percent.