ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[Rishi]

Forest officials to rope in student volunteers for tiger census in 2018
U Sudhakar Reddy| TNN | Nov 25, 2017, 08:02 IST

HYDERABAD: Due to an increase in the number of forests beats, Telangana now needs 6,000 volunteers for the massive Tiger Census to be taken up in January 2018 as part of the All India Tiger Estimation Survey.


So far, forest officials could gather only 500 wildlife activists from various NGOs in the city for the job. As the training has to begin in December, forest officials are looking for more volunteers and have now opened the opportunity for college students for the first time.


A forest official of the Telangana wildlife wing said, "In United AP, we had 2,800 beats and now in T alone, due to reorganization, we have 3,124 forest beats. Each beat shall have at least two or three volunteers to go around and track pug marks."
Several NGOs such as WWF Hyderabad, Friends of Snakes Society, Hyticos, People for Animals and Birdwatchers' Society, among others, have come forward to volunteer. However, they would make up only 500 volunteers.

The Census will be taken up in January third week. "The survey will include not only census of tigers and panthers but also of other carnivores and herbivores," said the official.
Interested PG and degree college students, particularly from the departments of zoology and botany, can contact forest officials on [email protected].


According to information from camera traps, there are around 14 tigers in Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Mahbubnagar and nine tigers in North Telangana and other parts. Apart from these, Adilabad, Kawal Tiger Reserve, Kawal tiger corridor, Eturunagaram and Kinnerasani have reported tiger presence. "Tigers are moving in from Maharashtra into Telangana. In one case in Adilabad, a tiger gave birth to four cubs which have survived. We are tracking them continuously," the official added. Reply