Deployment of a special tiger protection force coupled with camera traps and other measures taken by the state government have resulted in a sharp increase in tiger population at TadobaAndhari tiger reserve. The number of tigers has risen to more than 80 from last year's 60.
A S Kalaskar, the deputy director at TadobaAndhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) core area, told dna that previously the tigers used to be tracked by following the pug marks. "In 2015, we deployed camera traps, and it is now possible to capture the pictures of tigers passing through the particular area," said Kalaskar. Kalaskar said that the cameras are installed from both the sides at strategic points in the tiger reserve.
Maharashtra minister for forests SudhirMungantiwar said that with Centre's help, the state government has deployed a special tiger protection force which has resulted in ensuring that there is no poaching. CCTV networks have been installed at the entry gates and every vehicle and person is recorded in the cameras. Kalaskar said that the data has been sent to wildlife institutes. Mungantiwar said that the tiger population is likely to be on the rise in even buffer areas because of various measures taken by the department.
National Tiger Conservation Authority undertakes tiger census every three years and the tiger population in the country has gone up in the last three censuses. In 2008, the number of tigers was 1,411 while in 2011 it went up to 1,706. It reached 2,226 in the 2014 census. The rise in tiger population has been almost 30 per cent every year since 2008.
Tadoba National Park that was established in 1955 has a total area of 625.4 square kilometres and it is the longest national park in Maharashtra. It is situated at a distance of 40km from Chandrapur and roughly 200km from Nagpur. When the National Tiger Project was launched in 1973, there were nine tiger projects in the country and Tadoba was not included in the list. TadobaAndhari Tiger Reserve was declared as tiger reserve in 1995 with a core area of 625 square kilometres surrounded by 1,101 square kilometres of buffer area.
A long-term project of five years has been undertaken at TadobaAndhari Tiger Reserve to monitor tigers and leopards by installing radio collars on five tigers and five leopards. The radio collar has enabled the forest officials to monitor movement of one male tiger up to 100 square kilometre area. For the last one year, data is being collected on a daily basis and at present there are at least 15 cubs in TadobaAndhari Tiger Reserve.
