Bhubaneswar, May 18: The Odisha government has counted 40 tigers in the state forests in an exercise that is being seen as a counter to the 2014 National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) count that had pegged the figure at 28, which had triggered a row.
The results of the latest tiger census conducted by the state's wildlife wing between February and April this year were announced here today. For the sake of accuracy, the enumerators used both pugmark and camera trap methods of counting.
Of the 40 tigers, including 13 males, 24 females and three cubs, counted in the seven wildlife divisions of the state, 26 were found at the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj district bordering Bengal. The Similipal count included 14 females, nine males and three cubs. While the tiger count at Sunabeda division is four, Karanjia and Keonjhar has three each. Two big cats were found at Satkosia, while Sundargarh and Khariar divisions have one each.
Announcing the census results, forest secretary Suresh Mohapatra said the count included three melanistic tigers, popularly known as black tigers because of their black stripes, sighted in Similipal. However, camera traps could not be used in the Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary that has turned into a safe shelter for Maoists.
The survey also spotted the existence of 318 leopards, including 154 females, 144 males and 20 cubs.
An official said a total of 20,174 pug impression pads (PIP) were laid and 448 trap cameras, including 315 in Similipal, were installed for the counting. To reaffirm the estimated population in the Similipal Tiger Reserve, the exercise had been repeated between April 17 and 30 with 420 cameras being installed and 11,370 PIPs being laid.
A five-member technical committee under the chairmanship of Anup Kumar Nayak, the then regional chief conservator of forests, Angul, who is also the Satkosia Tiger Reserve field director analysed and scrutinised the data obtained during the first phase exercise, while the figures of the second phase were evaluated by another team of experts.
A controversy had erupted when the NTCA put the state's tiger population at 28 in 2014, saying the number had been on the decline since 2006 when 45 tigers were counted in Odisha.
