Bhubaneswar: The number of tigers in the Simlipal Tiger Reserve (STR) has doubled from eight to 16 between 2018 and 2022, though the state registered a drop in the population of the big cat from 28 to 20 during the period.
The figures were revealed in the Tiger Estimation Report, which was released by the central government on the occasion of Global Tiger Day, Saturday.
The 2022 tiger census report said that all the 20 tigers found in the state are confined to the Simlipal area – 16 in the tiger reserve and four in the buffer zone of Similipal National Park. There are none in Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
“We are happy that the 2022 tiger estimation report showed a rise in the tiger population in STR. The increase is because there is plenty of prey base for tigers in the area,” its field director Prakash Chandra Gogineni told PTI.
He, however, claimed that the recent camera trap estimation done in the Simlipal Tiger Reserve revealed that the number of tigers stood at 23.
“This number will be officially declared later,” he said.
The tiger count in Odisha stood at 28 as per the census conducted jointly by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India in 2014 and in 2018 as well.
In 2006 the figure was 45 in 2006 and 32 in 2010, showing a downward curve in the tiger population in the state.
“There has been a 55 per cent reduction in the tiger population in Odisha between 2006 and 2022,” a Forest department official said.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government not satisfied with the camera trap method used by the NTCA is planning to undertake its own tiger census from October this year.
The counting will be done in two phases in a period spread over one-and-half months and will be conducted through transect analysis and camera traps. In transect analysis, the tigers will be counted on the basis of footprints and scratch marks, an official said. The movement of the tigers will be captured through CCTV camera traps.
PNN & Agencies
