Tiger population swells in Uttarakhand
The enhanced protective measures undertaken in the recent past has borne fruit as tiger population has recorded an increase in reserves of Uttarakhand. Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat on Wednesday announced that there was a rise in tiger population in both Corbett Tiger Reserve and Rajaji Tiger Reserve.
At the conclusion of tiger count, Corbett was found to harbor a minimum of 208 tigers, which is an increase from 163 in 2015. Rajaji recorded 34 big cats which is a surge from 16 in 2015. This positive outcome is the result of stringent measures taken by the authorities to protect tigers.
The census was conducted as per the protocols laid down by the National Tiger Conservation Authority. It was based on the camera trap method. In the last census in 2015, 340 tigers were recorded in Uttarakhand, second to Karnataka which had 406 of the wild cats.
The tiger count began on November 28, 2016 and continued till March 19. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) teamed up with forest department officials to carry out the exercise in Corbett where 535 camera traps were set up in the 1,318 sq km area of the reserve. The cameras rendered 3,892 photographs of which 2,539 photographs were used for analysis that identified 208 tigers.
In Rajaji Reserve, Wildlife Institute of India and WWF assisted the authorities in laying around 562 camera traps which yielded 620 pictures from which 34 tigers were identified.
