Baripada: Forest Department will install more than 500 artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled surveillance cameras across sensitive areas of the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) over the next three to four months to strengthen wildlife protection and anti-poaching efforts.
STR Field Director and Regional Chief Conservator of Forests Prakash Chand Gogineni said the new cameras will increase real-time surveillance coverage by nearly 50 per cent, improving monitoring of wildlife and forest activities.
Similipal, one of India’s prominent tiger habitats and a renowned elephant reserve, has been using advanced AI-based surveillance systems to protect its core and buffer zones from poachers and illegal timber smugglers.
The cameras are linked to communication towers and can detect forest fires by identifying smoke, transmitting images to forest officials almost immediately for rapid response.
The reserve also uses AI-powered trail guard and pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) robotic cameras to monitor movement inside the forest.
The cameras automatically capture images of people, vehicles and motorcycles entering sensitive areas and send GPS-tagged photographs to forest officials within two minutes, enabling patrol teams to respond quickly and intercept suspected poachers or intruders.
The tiger reserve currently operates about 900 AI cameras across its North and South divisions and the Baripada, Rairangpur and Karanjia forest divisions.
Following the system’s success, the department has procured an additional 500 cameras at a cost of about Rs2.25 crore. The devices are being installed across 1,300 forest beats in five divisions.
According to Gogineni, the surveillance network has already helped identify and arrest several people attempting to enter the tiger reserve illegally, marking a significant achievement in wildlife conservation and protection.