ATR earns top marks

The Hindu , Friday, January 23, 2015
Correspondent : R. SAIRAM

An independent evaluation carried out in all the 43 tiger reserves in India during 2014 has accorded top marks for the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) near here in management aspects.

The Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) Process was undertaken by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), an autonomous Institution of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Tamil Nadu has four tigers reserves namely, the ATR, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Kalakad Tiger Reserve, and the Sathyamanglam Tiger Reserve. While the first three bagged the top grading of ‘Very Good,’ Sathyamanglam was categorised as ‘Good’.

The tiger population has almost doubled at the ATR, which has six ranges spread across 1,479 sq. km. spanning the three districts of Dindigul, Tirupur and Coimbatore. While the last census conducted at ATR in 2010 put the count of the big cats at 13, it is now expected to have gone up to nearly 23.

Report on the tiger census is yet to come out with the exact numbers.

The ATR has also won the National Award for Excellence in Communication Strategy, making it one of the few in the country to bag NTCA awards. V.T. Kandasamy, Field Director of the Reserve, says an effective strategy for enhancing the communication between field officers was chalked out and implemented in recent years.

“We have provided sophisticated wireless sets in all the 27 anti-poaching camps, which are located in remote and inaccessible areas, to coordinate the patrols. This has played a key role in tackling poachers with no incidents of poaching recorded in ATR in the last four years,” he says.

The reserve also had nearly 120 anti-poaching patrols and more than 40 anti-depredation squads.With tiger population having gone up, improving the prey base is now a priority for the ATR.

When contacted, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Rajiv K. Srivastava, who was the Field Director of ATR from July 2012 to September 2014, says several measures were implemented to boost tiger population.

They include placing surveillance cameras, frequent raids on ganja cultivation and setting up set up toll-free numbers to alert local population of wild animal movement.

 
SOURCE : http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/atr-earns-top-marks/article6813749.ece
 


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