Why Odisha wants to have its own tiger census, how it will go about it

Disagreeing with the AITE’s methodology, the Odisha government began preparing for a census of its own, which is to take off in October.

While the AITE since 2006 has replaced the pugmark method with new technologies, Odisha’s survey will rely on the camera trap method along with pugmark and other approaches.

What is Odisha’s contention?

Odisha Forest department officials said the figures depicted in AITE-2022 might not be an accurate reflection of the presence, habitat occupancy and number of tigers in Odisha, as the sampling intensity was relatively low.

They said though the AITE protocol mandates that the phase-I survey be carried out in all forest beats (in tiger reserves, protected areas, reserve forests, protected forests, revenue forests in all wildlife and territorial divisions) and phase-III in all potential tiger-bearing forest blocks, in Odisha, it was carried out only in limited areas. The state claimed a total of 733 camera traps were deployed in Odisha, as against 6,894 and 4,872 in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively.

What does Odisha aim for with its own survey?

The idea is to have a more realistic estimation of the number of tigers in the state and of the forest blocks/habitats occupied by them, for closer monitoring and protection.

The state government has also said it will carry out the counting more frequently than the AITE, which is done every four years. It claimed that because of the four-year interval, only adult tigers are counted in each cycle. This leads to the exclusion of sub-adults, which would have reached adulthood before the next AITE is due.

Where will the survey be carried out?

Except for the four coastal districts, where tigers are not known to be present, the survey will be carried out in the rest of Odisha by dividing the state into two categories— tiger reserves and forest blocks outside tiger reserves.

Similipal is the only home of rare melanistic tigers. (Representational/Twitter @susantanada3)

How will the survey be done?

The survey aims to arrive at a yearly estimate of tigers through camera-trapping and DNA analysis of scats, and to prepare a tiger occupancy map for the state based on primary field data.

The survey will be carried out in phases, including a preparatory phase during which secondary information about tigers is being collected from various sources, and the divisions, ranges and forest blocks to be taken up for the ‘sign survey’ are being finalised.

The actual survey starts on the field in phase-II, as part of which information collected from secondary sources is validated on the ground.

During the sign survey, indirect evidence like pug marks and scats, scratch marks on the trees, rake marks, animal kills and the alarm call by prey animals will be collected along the pre-determined trails inside a census unit. Genetic analysis of the scat samples will also be done for identification of species and sex of the big cats.

After the sign survey leads to identification of beats with tiger presence, phase-III will start, with deployment of camera traps. A minimum of five pairs of camera traps will be deployed in each grid of 25 sq/km for a period of 40 days.

In the fourth and final phases, analysis of camera trap images and DNA findings from scats will be done before compilation of numbers.

Dr Lala AK Singh, a retired research officer of the Odisha forest department, said the state government had taken a good step towards getting a more realistic estimation of big cats. “ The pugmark method will help the forest department in better deployment of camera traps, judicious deployment of forest personnel, and in creating micro plans for tiger conservation. The census move is welcome, but the success of it will depend on the sincerity of the forest officers during different phases of the survey. Instead of the four-year gap in case of AITE, the state’s survey should take place annually.”