Bigcats News

[Rishi]

Don’t disclose tiger count: NTCA to Tiger Reserves

[email protected]

Hyderabad: The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has issued orders to all 50 tiger reserves in the country and 18 tiger states asking them to not disclose local tiger census figures on their own.

NTCA releases tiger census for the entire country every four years. The last tiger census released was in 2014. In January 2018, a nationwide exercise was done and a yearand-a-half later, the census is yet to be released. With state governments and tiger reserve authorities disclosing figures, the NTCA has barred them from doing so to prevent the dissemination of raw data.

Telangana additional principal chief conservator of forests Munindra told TOI, “States have collected both direct and indirect evidence of tiger presence. Direct sighting information and as well camera trap, pugmark and tiger scat were collected and sent to NTCA. The state has sent the raw data. We haven’t analysed it. NTCA, with the help of the Wildlife Institute of India, is processing the data. Only NTCA can give the exact picture. As some of the states are leaking raw data, which is not authentic, NTCA issued orders last week asking them to stop.”

NTCA redid the survey in 2018 as some data was missing. States are also adding tiger cubs and giving updated figures. But the delay in the release of figures by NTCA is not going down well with tiger conservation experts and state wildlife departments.

A tiger conservationist in Telangana told TOI: “The tiger census is supposed to be released every four years. Why is there a delay in the release of figures? Release of the census will help authorities improve management of tiger reserves where numbers are dwindling.”

Project Tiger is implemented by NTCA along with the state governments of 18 states. The NTCA uses a refined double sampling method using camera traps in a statistical framework, first used in 2006. Reply