ABOUT THE CENSUS
* Being held after a period of five years
* Will be conducted in last week of April
* More comprehensive scientific method
* More people involved than last time
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COMPLETION
By the first week of May
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PANAJI: The Goa Forest Department will for, the first time use drone cameras -- albeit only on an experimental basis -- as they begin the most comprehensive tiger census yet later this month.
“It will be difficult because of the tree cover, but we will try and see how it works. In certain areas where there are slightly open patches, we will use them,” officials overseeing the preparations for the tiger census have said.
Sources from the Forest Department said that they have waited until the driest months to conduct the survey, even though other states have already begun their surveys back in February and March -- because the drier months offer greater opportunity to spot the elusive wild cats.
“Not only is the vegetation less, making the animals more likely to be spotted by the camera traps, but the animals are more likely to be visiting watering holes during the drier months,” a source from the forest department overseeing the survey said.
The tiger census is being held after a period of five years and the forest department will hope to have greater success than last time around where the census offering evidence for between five to eight apex predators deep in the forests of the western ghats.
The census will be conducted in the last week of April.
“We will be using a more comprehensive scientific method of quadrants that will cover the entire forest area in Goa. There will be more people involved than last time,” the officials said.
The entire exercise is expected to complete by the first week of May. The previous census, whose report was published in 2015 confirmed the presence of at least five adult tigers as being resident in Goa.
The camera traps and field trips are only one part of the survey with the data collected then being analysed and the final number of tigers published.
The then Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh had written to the Goa government back in 2011 asking them to send a proposal to the centre for the declaration of the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve.
The union minister said that the tiger is a resident animal in the state and not a transitory animal besides was also contiguous with the Dandeli tiger reserve in neighbouring Karnataka. However, the state government was reluctant to concur with such a decision.
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STORY OF THE GOAN TIGER
1997: Forest department census showed six tigers
2002: Four tigers recorded in census
2006: Census data wasn’t reported
2008: MoEF census shows no tigers in Goa
2009: Tigress found dead trapped in an animal snare in forests of Mhadei Wildlife sanctuary
2014: An estimate five tigers in Goa
2015: Confirmation of at least five adult tigers in forests of Goa
2018: The count of the big cats begins later this month
