Tiger Census Will Be Starting In Karnataka's Bandipur Reserve From Today

The annual tiger census will begin on today, January 22, with Bandipur Tiger Reserve, one of India's most important reserves, becoming the first to participate. Whereas the census in Bandipur starts a day early on January 22, the census in the other tiger reserves notably Nagarahole, Bhadra, BRT, and Kali will commence on January 23 and end on February 7.

All attention are on tiger estimation, since the Kali Tiger Reserve has recorded a healthy population, and tigers have also been reported in Koppa division. Tiger numbers are also increasing in regions outside of tiger sanctuaries. Sanjai Mohan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests said that Madhya Pradesh came out ahead the previous time because they focused more on regions outside of forest cover. Karnataka is doing the same thing, but this time more forcefully.

Every tiger reserve's annual internal assessment has also showed an increase. The analysis of each census data has revealed a 25% to 30% increase, which is expected this time. They also acknowledged that data from certain beats were omitted from the previous exercise. Each beat in 51 forest divisions has been documented this time. Karnataka had 524 tigers in the 2018 census, just two shy of Madhya Pradesh's 526 tigers. Karnataka has 406 in 2014, compared to 300 in 2010.

Meanwhile, there are five tiger reserves and 23 wildlife sanctuaries in Karnataka. Despite previous censuses, which were conducted simultaneously in all reserves and wildlife sanctuaries, this one was divided and left to each division to determine. The decision comes in the midst of the pandemic, when most reserves and animal sanctuaries are refusing to accept volunteers for the exercise.