The Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) will conduct a pre-monsoon wildlife census this month and have invited NGOs, volunteers from colleges and environmentalists to take part in it to ensure a transparent process.
It will be held from May 23 to May 30, said officials.
The officials said that they have been conducting this census for nearly five years. "We will initially find the prey base in the reserve and then correlate it to the existence of tigers and other wildlife. Simultaneously, tiger census would also be carried out by setting up a pair of cameras at every 4km distance of tiger trails," said a senior officer at ATR. This would be done for 40 days and would be compiled second week of June. The tiger photos will be captured and compared with the previous year's album before the final data is compiled.
The officials have identified 61 beats and each beat will have two transact lines. "There will be 102 teams and each team will have a volunteer or a wildlife enthusiast. They will have to walk for nearly 5 km every day along the roads, animal trails and identify pug marks, animal scrapes and other carnivore signs. All the evidences will be recorded and along with that habitat quality information will also be collected," said an official. The teams would cover the entire reserve area of 958sq km.
The first day would be an orientation session for volunteers and the field staff. Then for six days, the data would be collected and on the final day the data would be correlated, recorded and analysed.
Interested wildlife enthusiasts can contact the district forest officer (Pollachi) and deputy director Anamalai Tiger Reserve before May 21. The interested volunteers should send their photographs and original ID proofs for registration.
It will be held from May 23 to May 30, said officials.
The officials said that they have been conducting this census for nearly five years. "We will initially find the prey base in the reserve and then correlate it to the existence of tigers and other wildlife. Simultaneously, tiger census would also be carried out by setting up a pair of cameras at every 4km distance of tiger trails," said a senior officer at ATR. This would be done for 40 days and would be compiled second week of June. The tiger photos will be captured and compared with the previous year's album before the final data is compiled.
The officials have identified 61 beats and each beat will have two transact lines. "There will be 102 teams and each team will have a volunteer or a wildlife enthusiast. They will have to walk for nearly 5 km every day along the roads, animal trails and identify pug marks, animal scrapes and other carnivore signs. All the evidences will be recorded and along with that habitat quality information will also be collected," said an official. The teams would cover the entire reserve area of 958sq km.
The first day would be an orientation session for volunteers and the field staff. Then for six days, the data would be collected and on the final day the data would be correlated, recorded and analysed.
Interested wildlife enthusiasts can contact the district forest officer (Pollachi) and deputy director Anamalai Tiger Reserve before May 21. The interested volunteers should send their photographs and original ID proofs for registration.