Hyderabad :

The Wildlife Institute of India  (WII) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority have joined hands with the State Forest Department to undertake the first ever intensive census of tigers at the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) on Wednesday.

A six-member team of experts from WII, Dehradun, arrived in the city on Saturday to monitor the survey. The All India Tiger Census 2014 is being carried out across 44 tiger reserves in the country. Besides NSTR, Kawal is the only other tiger reserve in Andhra Pradesh.

The phase one of the exercise to be carried out in the entire state would start on January 18 and end on the 25th. Transact line and trail pass data are collected during this phase. On the other hand, phase two and three would be devoted to analysis of the data collected.

The NSTR, including GBM, is spread over 5,938 square kms. A pair of cameras will cover 4 square km area for 45 days without any interruption. But the core area of the tiger reserve stands at 3,750 sq kms. “It is the core area where the census survey will be carried out. Once camera trappings are conducted here for 45 to 50 days, we will move on to a sample survey of the 10 percent or nearly 400 sq km of the core area. This will be a 15-day survey where one pair of camera will cover only one sq km area. The data we will be collecting through these stages will help the WII in reaching a scientific conclusion on the tiger population in the NSTR,” he explained.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Environment> Flora & Fauna / TNN / December 31st, 2013