Officials to conduct tiger census in Melghat reserve

A census of tigers will be undertaken by forest officials in the Melghat reserve from January 27, sources said today.

The census will be done in an area spanning over 2,000 sq km. Training will be given to officials involved in the survey on January 4 and 5 at Semadoh, they said.

The survey will start on January 27, and will have to be completed in six days as per the programme. However, we have kept 2-3 days as reserve to complete the survey, Project Tiger's field director AK Mishra said.

The census will comprise four phases – field data collection, compilation, verification and analysis.

The census is part of a detailed study on tiger population in 17 states undertaken by the Wildlife Institute of India, in co-ordination with the Central government, various state forest departments and Project Tiger.

Data on tiger population will be compiled on the state level, and will be then sent to the Central government for verification, he said.