HYDERABAD: The Amrabad tiger reserve (ATR), the second largest protected area for the country’s flagship predator species, is witnessing a tiger population boom of sorts, if the preliminary numbers of the big cats counted during the recently concluded tiger estimation exercise are anything to go by.
Following the last of the four-yearly all-India Tiger Estimation in 2018, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had said ATR had seven tigers that were camera-trapped. This year, the number of tigers caught on camera rose to 21, a three-fold increase.
When the 2018 results were announced, the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) which factored in aspects such as available prey base, and the landscape and said that Amrabad possibly was home to another five tigers, taking the potential total to 12, a forest department official explained.
This year, with 21 individual tigers identified through camera trap images in the reserve, and when final results are announced, the department hopes that the NTCA would put the number of tigers in Amrabad between 21 and 26, if not more, the official said. Incidentally, of the 21 individual tigers identified in this year’s tiger estimation, at least six are believed to be females of breeding age, and officials hope that they will add to the tiger numbers in the reserve in the next few years taking the total tigers in the reserve even higher.
While the increasing number of tigers in ATR has come as a shot in the arm for the tiger reserve, the largest of the two protected areas for tigers in Telangana – the other being the Kawal tiger reserve which is more or less bereft of resident tigers and has only migrating to and from adjoining Maharashtra in the north and passing through, officials are also a worried lot over the inadequate patrolling staff and facilities in Amrabad.
For a 2,611.4-sq km tiger reserve, the second largest in the country, Amrabad needs at least 60 to 70 base camps spread throughout the reserve for forest watchers and guards to keep a better watch over the animals. Currently, Amrabad has 23 such camps – small dwelling units in the forest for the field staff to stay, and operate from covering their beats.
“Unless the number of watch and ward staff and infrastructure increases, the hard work put in by everyone in the past few years might come to naught if the tiger numbers continue increasing which will need more watch to ensure no man-animal conflicts occur,” an official explained.
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