Census of tigers on in Nallamala

Atmakuru: The census of the national animal tiger was launched in the Nallamala forest on Sunday. This time the census is being taken with the help of trap cameras in the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) which the officials feel a foolproof method. The census of tiger is taken up every four years throughout the country. The 45-day census of tigers in the tiger reserve gains importance in this backdrop.

The NSTR field director and Atmakuru DFO Saibaba is taking up the tiger census with the help of the forest rangers. It is estimated that fifty per cent of the tiger population is in Nallamala forest and half of those tigers live in the Atmakuru division of Kurnool district.

Out of the 68 tigers spotted in Nallamala forest, about 30 tigers are found in Atmakuru division, according to officials’ estimate. The Indian Government on November 18, 1932 declared tiger as the national animal. Since then the tiger population has been counted by collecting tigers’ pugmarks taken on plaster of Paris (PoP).

However, this time the tiger population is counted by using automatic trap cameras which were fitted two metres above ground. The stripes on the tiger would be scientifically assessed and analysed for counting the population since the stripes of a tiger never matches with that of another. The tiger census would also depend upon the pugmarks, urine and faeces of tigers.

The NSTR is spread in 5,937 km out of which 3,737 km is in Andhra Pradesh. The Nallamala forest is spread in Kurnool, Prakasam, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda districts. The core area of tiger is 2,444 km, the officials said. There are 2200 tigers in the country out of which 68 tigers are found in Nallamala forest.