Bhubaneswar: Debrigarh Sanctuary under the Hirakud Wildlife Division is all set to conduct a sign survey of carnivores and herbivores (census or density calculation) for six days from May 28 to June 2. 26 teams have been formed with 52 trained staff that will complete a survey in 6 days. In the first 3 days, they will cover carnivores and in the last 3 days density of herbivores will be surveyed. These surveys will give critical information on the density of the prey base inside the sanctuary.
In the pre-monsoon sign survey, the last density calculations reflect the density of animals as 29-38 per a sq km area inside the sanctuary. In the last survey, the Sambar population was highest among herbivores and there was an equal distribution of deer, Indian Gaur, wild boar, Chowsingha, etc, with reporting of about 70 leopards. After the survey results will come out in a month, the authorities informed. “Presence of one tiger is ascertained by camera trap, survey results may reflect whether the presence of other tiger is there. Since the last 7-8 months the male tiger has been regularly camera trapped in the sanctuary.
Around 140 cameras and 12 tiger monitoring teams have been regularly monitoring the tiger day and night,” informed a sanctuary official. For the prey density survey, the jungle safari will remain closed from May 31 to June 2 in the morning hours from 6 AM to 9 AM to avoid biotic disturbances.