Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 4: The state government Saturday claimed that Orissa has around 60 tigers and rubbished the tiger census figures prepared by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
Principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) SS Srivastava claimed that the NTCA’s all India tiger estimation report, 2014 unveiled in January reported a fall in Orissa’s feline population from 32 to 28 in 2010 and 45 in 2006. The dismal figure for the big cat in the state has pitted the state against the Centre.
“The results were announced in January when the counting exercise in the final phase was still under way in the state. Now, we have sent additional information and photographs about presence of more tigers to NTCA. The wildlife division-wise report is yet to be released by NTCA,” Srivastava told this newspaper.
He said the NTCA had not undertaken a survey in most of the wildlife divisions of Orissa when the tiger census was conducted. The PCCF claimed that a final figure of tiger presence in the whole state has emerged, which is around 60.
Protesting against the results of the survey that showed tiger count has plummeted in Orissa, state government trained its guns at the Centre and shot off a letter to the NTCA demanding re-assessment of the feline count. The state has three tiger reserves — Similipal, Satakosia and Sunabeda.
Tiger census survey was not undertaken in Sunabeda due to the presence of Maoist elements in the area.
