Baripada: Preparations have begun for the All-India Tiger Census 2026 in Similipal, the second-largest biosphere reserve in Asia.
A preparatory meeting involving experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Forest department officials was recently held at the office of the Field Director, Similipal Tiger Reservce (STR) here.
The pan-India tiger census, conducted every four years, will be carried out over a period of six months.
The preliminary phase of the census will commence in October, following the monsoon, and camera-based monitoring will be conducted from December.
“The final data will be submitted to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) by March 2026, and the census report is expected to be published in 2027,” said Prakash Chand Gogineni, Field Director of STR.
PNN
