After a gap of three years, a wildlife census commenced on Saturday in the Coimbatore Forest Division spread over six ranges and 698 sq km.
As many as 39 forest ranger trainees and over 30 forest college students are involved in the drive to assess the health of the habitat and population of mammals, herbivores and carnivores, said I. Anwardeen, Conservator of Forests - Coimbatore Circle.
The census would be carried out over a period of three days using the line-transect method, water hole count, block count and indirect sighting (peel off marks in tree barks, excrete, pug marks) of carnivore, including call counts of avian population. Volunteers will carry out the drive in 65 blocks - 45 beats in the entire division.
The volunteers drawn up for the exercise have already been given adequate training and briefing on the dos and don’ts.
On completion of the exercise, the Forest Department has planned to take up the drive in the other divisions of Coimbatore circle - Nilgiris North, Nilgiris South and Gudalur divisions spread over about 900 sq km area in association with the WWF.
Mr. Anwardeen said the exercise would help forest and wildlife managers in ascertaining the trends in habitat and population of various species and thereby amend the management practices and carry out the required interventions such as ensuring fodder or water availability.