The census will reveal total number of tigers actually present in the five National parks and 17 Wildlife Sanctuaries in the State.

North East News Agency

Counting of tigers in Assam, particularly in and around the protected areas of the State, has been completed recently. Personnel of the wildlife and territorial wings of the forest department carried out the concerted effort under the guidance from experts of several organizations including the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

Though the final results are yet to be known, (which will be published shortly) the census will reveal total number of tigers actually present in and close to the five National parks and 17 Wildlife Sanctuaries in the State besides adding to the knowledge regarding states of tiger habitats in the region.

The main focus of the census was Kaziranga, Manas and Nameri National parks. There were 86, 65, and 26 tigers respectively in these parks at the time of last count. Experts from WII had trained the staff of these reserves on the techniques to be used during the census. Overall number of tigers in the last 2001 census stood at 364 in the State (in and outside the protected areas).

Assam wildlife authorities are hoping that the census would reveal an increase in the number of tigers. It is definitely believed that there will be an increase in the number of tigers in the protected areas but serious doubts exist about the places outside the protected areas. But recent surveys have disclosed that the tiger population in Assam and the rest of the country could be falling. A joint mission of UNESCO and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) comprising Kishore Rao, DD of UNESCO World Heritage Centre and David Sheppard, the head of the programme on protected areas of the IUCN had visited the parks of Assam in April 2005. The team reported not having seen any signs of tigers during the mission.

Unlike tiger census carried out in Assam earlier, the recent census gathered data on a wider scale. The methods used for the exercise would also differ from previous ones. Camera traps said to be the most fool proof method of counting wildlife has also been used. The equipment includes automatic cameras containing infrared devices that are activated by night. The cameras take photographs automatically whenever an animal passes by.

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