Enumeration of tigers in Dudhwa underway

Around 100 sophisticated cameras have been installed at previously selected areas within Dudhwa to count the big cats in the reserve, Deputy field director, DTR, Sanjay Kumar Pathak said.

Enumeration of tigers through camera trapping method is underway in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.

HT Image

Around 100 sophisticated cameras have been installed at previously selected areas within Dudhwa to count the big cats in the reserve, Deputy field director, DTR, Sanjay Kumar Pathak said.

The enumeration process started on Monday.

Through these cameras, the movements of big cats would be captured in digital form to be analysed later to find out the exact number of big cats, he said.

A team of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) headed by AK Singh is camping in Dudhwa to monitor the camera trapping.

"As compared to the pugmark method, in which number of tigers is estimated through analysis of pugmarks, the camera trapping method is assumed to be more accurate as stripes on the bodies of tigers are always different from each other, wildlife experts said.

While in pugmark method, duplicity errors cannot be ruled out, the camera trapping is assumed to be free from this, they said.

According to the last census in DTR, there were 106 tigers including 77 in Dudhwa and 29 in Kishunpur, officials said.

Given the frequent sightings of young tigers in and around DTR, a healthy growth in their population is expected, they added.