Express News Service
DEHRADUN: On World Tiger Day on July 29, Uttarakahnd’s position slipped to third in the countrywide count of the big cat, contrary to expectations that the state would stand second, sources said.
State government officials after analysing the data released on the occasion realised that around 15 tigers could not be included in the final count. “Otherwise the results would have been different,” said an official, adding that it was clearly the negligence of the forest department staff.
Sources in the Forest Department said: “In the Status of Tigers Predator and Prey India-2022 report, 15 tigers in three forest divisions of Uttarakhand were not included in the count due to lack of “adequate number of camera traps and some poor photographs.”
“This is the reason that the number of tigers in the state remained at 560, forcing the state at number three in the tiger counter across the country.” Speaking to this newspaper, Chief Wildlife Warden Dr Sameer Sinha said: “There is no such misconception about tiger count. I have also spoken to Wildlife Institute of India (WII) officials who have justified the tiger census as per standards.”
He said there would be a review meeting soon. “Whatever changes (in the counting method) are expected will be made,” Sinha said. The state forest department has realised its “mistake” and, according to the data released on World Tiger Day, Uttarakhand, which was ranked third with a count of 560, should technically have been in second place as the count of 15 tigers could not be included in the final count.
Madhya Pradesh tops the list with 785 tigers, followed by Karnataka with 563 tigers. “Among the pieces of evidence, camera traps are used to assess tigers’ presence,” said a senior forest department official.
“Once the picture of the camera trap arrives, it is captured in the same location again. After this, the number of tigers is estimated by analyzing and studying all the captured photographs in depth,” said a senior forest department official.
“The camera traps installed in Champawat, Almora and Dehradun forest divisions of the state were antiquated. At the same time, the forest personnel did not show enough interest, due to which the pictures of tigers were not clear,” an official said. The number of tigers in India has increased from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,682 in 2022, an annual rise of 6 per cent, according to the latest government data released on International Tiger Day. India has become home to approximately 75 per cent of the world’s tiger population, the government said.
DEHRADUN: On World Tiger Day on July 29, Uttarakahnd’s position slipped to third in the countrywide count of the big cat, contrary to expectations that the state would stand second, sources said.
State government officials after analysing the data released on the occasion realised that around 15 tigers could not be included in the final count. “Otherwise the results would have been different,” said an official, adding that it was clearly the negligence of the forest department staff.
Sources in the Forest Department said: “In the Status of Tigers Predator and Prey India-2022 report, 15 tigers in three forest divisions of Uttarakhand were not included in the count due to lack of “adequate number of camera traps and some poor photographs.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
“This is the reason that the number of tigers in the state remained at 560, forcing the state at number three in the tiger counter across the country.” Speaking to this newspaper, Chief Wildlife Warden Dr Sameer Sinha said: “There is no such misconception about tiger count. I have also spoken to Wildlife Institute of India (WII) officials who have justified the tiger census as per standards.”
He said there would be a review meeting soon. “Whatever changes (in the counting method) are expected will be made,” Sinha said. The state forest department has realised its “mistake” and, according to the data released on World Tiger Day, Uttarakhand, which was ranked third with a count of 560, should technically have been in second place as the count of 15 tigers could not be included in the final count.
Madhya Pradesh tops the list with 785 tigers, followed by Karnataka with 563 tigers. “Among the pieces of evidence, camera traps are used to assess tigers’ presence,” said a senior forest department official.
“Once the picture of the camera trap arrives, it is captured in the same location again. After this, the number of tigers is estimated by analyzing and studying all the captured photographs in depth,” said a senior forest department official.
“The camera traps installed in Champawat, Almora and Dehradun forest divisions of the state were antiquated. At the same time, the forest personnel did not show enough interest, due to which the pictures of tigers were not clear,” an official said. The number of tigers in India has increased from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,682 in 2022, an annual rise of 6 per cent, according to the latest government data released on International Tiger Day. India has become home to approximately 75 per cent of the world’s tiger population, the government said.