Authorities of the Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) are all set to start the tiger census on Friday. The survey is part of the national-level synchronized census of the big cats scheduled to be conducted all over the country under the guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Buxa forest officials have said.
The authorities will begin the count in the jungle with the help of trap cameras first, forest sources said. They added that they would begin installing such cameras on Friday, and that the entire exercise will continue for 15-17 days. To scan the 760 square-kilometre Buxa Tiger Reserve forest with trap camera lenses, the total area of the BTR has been divided into two blocks, BTR sources said. The blocks are further divided into many grids.
There are 92 grids in Block-1 and 104 grids in Block- 2. Two cameras will be set in each grid. The camera installation programme tomorrow will start in Block-1, that borders Bhutan and Assam forests, it is learnt. These areas include the hilly region of the BTR. “We will verify the camera footage framed within a specific time frame in specific areas.
After the counting with the help of trap cameras ends, we will start the other three phases of the Tiger census as per the guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority,” Field Director of the BTR, NS Moorley, said. Buxa Tiger Reserve located in the district of Alipurduar was created as the 15th tiger reserve forest in India in 1983.
The BTR used to be home to at least 26 tigers in the seventies. While there are now doubts about the existence of such a large number of the big cats in the forest there, the state forest department has decided to start the tiger augmentation programme in the reserve forest in an effort to bring back the lost fame.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority has primarily given a nod to the augmentation plan in the Reserve, forest department sources have said.