Baripada: Contradicting the census of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), officials of the Forest department here said Monday that there are 35 big cats present in the Similipal Tiger Reserve. Earlier in a census, the results of which were announced in August, the NTCA had said that Odisha has a total of 20 tigers, among which 16 are in Similipal.
The latest census carried out by the State Forest department has found that the number of tigers is much higher than the figure provided by NTCA. This being the number only in Similipal, the numbers will certainly be higher across Odisha. Forest department officials said that the present census had been launched in October this year. The existence of 35 big cats was known from the camera traps during the ongoing enumeration process. The number may well go up once the tiger census is completed, added the official.
Confirming this information Monday, the director of the Similipal National Park, Prakash Chand Gogineni added that a fierce fight had taken place between two adult tigers over territory more than a month back. “The fight started November 9. Since then there had been sporadic clashes between the two tigers identified as T-35 and T-31. Subsequently, T-31 had to leave the area,” Gogineni said. He added that the complete data about the exact number of tigers in the park will be known January next year, as by then the census will be over. Earlier the state Forest department had alleged that the number of camera traps used by the NTCA were not enough.
Officials had also pointed out that many areas in South Odisha had been left uncovered. Earlier in 2018, the all-India tiger estimation survey found 28 tigers in Odisha. Sources said that more than 600 camera traps had been used to count the tigers in Similipal, this time. It should be stated here that there have been a couple of cases where tigers from neighbouring Chhattisgarh have crossed over into Odisha and settled.