The forest department is sensitising staff on monitoring social media to keep an eye on information being given by overzealous tourists about sighting tigers in the wild.
Officials fear that these details may be misused by poachers and criminals to track and kill the animals. Hence, the department will monitor updates on sites like Facebook to alert ground-level staff to ensure better protection to the big cats.
Forest department sources said that they had recently organised a workshop for range officers and foresters (round officers) from the Pench and Bor tiger projects and the UmredKarhandla and Tipeshwar wildlife sanctuaries to update them on intelligence-gathering and technology to combat poaching and wildlife crime.
"With an increase in the use of social media and other platforms by people, it is expected that... this will be far-reaching. So, it is imperative that the forest department uses better technology to manage protected areas," said Jaydeep Das, livelihood expert at the Pench tiger reserve. "People should be careful in posting details like locations (of animals like tigers), lest it is misused by unwanted people," he warned.
"Social media is a double-edged sword... who uses it faster can benefit," said an official. "We cannot prevent people from using sites like Facebook. But we can find ways to use this technology in a positive manner," he said.
Use of software and technology like the 'Monitoring System for Tigers–Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-STrIPES),' a GIS-based tool, will also ensure that all areas are patrolled, checked and records maintained.
Maharashtra has six tiger reserves –- Pench, Bor, Tadoba- Andhari, Navegaon- Nagzira, Sahyadri and Melghat. The tiger census, results for which were released in 2014, shows that India has 2,226 tigers, up from 1,706 in 2010. Maharashtra has around 190 such big cats. It was 169 in 2010.
