Madurai: The wildlife census ahead of the monsoon commenced in Kalakkad Tiger Reserve on Thursday. The five-day census will count all the predators and prey base inside the tiger reserve, while the same census will commence in the adjacent Mundanthurai wildlife sanctuary on Friday.
In February, the annual tiger census was held between February 17 and 21 in Kalakkad - Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in which more than 10 tigers were recorded inside the forest area.
From this year, the annual wildlife survey will be carried out in two phases before and after the monsoon. During the five-day census, the teams will cover all the areas surveyed during tiger census held earlier. As many as 53 people - forest staff, anti-poaching guards and volunteers - are participating in the census and have been divided into 11 teams. Four teams are deployed in Kalakkad range, five in Thirukurunkudi range and the remaining two teams in Kothaiyaru range.
They will collect details of the animals using direct spotting and indirect spotting methods by collecting scats and pug marks. The teams will stay inside the forest and carry out the census work, according to officials from the tiger reserve. tnn Post survey the data will be collected and processed to find out the number of wild animals and trend of their population.
