 India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has instructed all State Forest departments to start preparations for the upcoming tiger census next year. Over one-third of tiger conservation sites in the world are severely at risk of losing their tigers – the majority of which are in Southeast Asia. Many of these areas lack basic plans for effective management. However, the story of India is something different. The last Tiger Census of India, the largest ever done in the world that confirmed the current tiger population in India has increased to 2,967, has entered the Guinness Book of World Records as being the biggest tiger survey ever.
The tiger census was first conducted across the country in 2006 using a demarcation system developed by the Indian Wild life Institute (WII), Dehradun. Taking note of NTCA’s instructions, Maharashtra forest department has started preparation for smooth conducting of the tiger census in 2022. Nitin Kakodkar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) said that use of camera trap is a major factor for proper tiger census. Country experienced the largest ever camera trap wildlife survey in 2018 and this year also the technology will be used to count tiger. He also informed that NTCA was conducting a meeting with directors of various tiger projects of the State on February 17-18 in Nagpur. The actual process of tiger counting will start from October this year in all the forests across the country. As per the tiger census 2018, there are 312 tigers in Maharashtra which was recorded three times than 2006 when the first census took place.
