State to contest figures on tiger census

The Hindu , Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Correspondent : N. Rahul
HYDERABAD: The State government is likely to contest the count in the tiger census carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India and the National Tiger Conservation Authority fixing the population of the big cat in the State at a maximum of 79 as it believed that the estimation was not properly done in parts of the eastern ghats and north Telangana districts.

Results of the 2010 census, which were released by Union Minister for Environment Jairam Ramesh on March 28, showed the tiger population for the State going down from 95 plus in a similar exercise four years ago to 79. The figure excludes cubs less than two years of age as they are taken out of the purview of the operation because of their poor survival rate in the absence of a territory for themselves. A senior forest official said they would take up with the Centre reservations against the figure put out for the State after getting the detailed report on the census.

He added that the figures of the tiger population released for the eastern ghats and north Telangana districts were far less than expected because they had reason to believe good movement of the animal in Papikondalu near Polavaram, Maredumilli in East Godavari, Gudem Marripakala near Chintapalli in Visakhapatnam agency and Paloncha and Bhadrachalam in Khammam. Only seven tigers were shown for Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari districts and five in north Telangana comprising Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam. In 2006 census, the forest in these regions had 12 tigers each. The happy news for the State in the latest census was that the range of tiger population went up from 43 – 57 to 53 – 66 in the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam tiger reserve and the adjoining Gundla Brahmeswaram wildlife sanctuary.

The officials said a strong reason for the shrinkage in tiger population in the State was the pressure on forests due to large-scale encroachments on account of the implementation of Recognition of Forest Rights Act, 2006, for tribal people. Under the act, the tribals have been given title to four lakh acres of forest land, mostly in Warangal, Adilabad and Khammam. A lot more forest area has also been cleared by tribals in the hope of getting it regularised in future. The increased disturbance in forest due to construction of roads and poaching of herbivores might have also led to decline in population, they added.

 
SOURCE : http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/05/stories/2011040560060700.htm
 


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