Bidar
The process of estimating the population of tigers and other carnivorous animals began across Karnataka’s forest areas on Monday, State Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre said.
The large-scale exercise will cover all major tiger reserves in the State, including Kali, Bhadra, Nagarahole, Bandipur and the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve. The nationwide tiger estimation is conducted once every four years, and the ongoing exercise is the sixth such assessment after earlier rounds in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Khandre said Karnataka had earlier reported around 563 tigers, placing it second in the country in terms of tiger population. “This estimation will be carried out in patrol areas of all 38 forest divisions across every forest range in the State,” he said.
According to the minister, teams of three members each will patrol forest areas for three days from January 5, covering about five kilometres daily. They will collect field evidence such as pugmarks, scat and direct sightings of tigers, leopards and other carnivores, along with elephants.
A second phase of the exercise will be conducted from January 15 to 17 in 14 forest divisions to record direct sightings of herbivorous animals, including deer, sambar, gaur and wild buffalo. The data collected will help identify suitable locations for installing camera traps.
Tiger Project Director Ramesh Kumar has been appointed as the nodal officer to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and will oversee the entire exercise. In the third phase, camera traps will be installed based on the data gathered.
Khandre said 2,230 camera traps are available across the five tiger reserves, with surveys already underway.