Tiger survey work completed in Chitwan National Park

Jan 23, Chitwan, Narayan Adhikari. The work of tiger survey in Chitwan National Park and surrounding areas has been completed under the National Tiger Survey 2078 BS. According to Dr. Baburam Lamichhane, head of the National Nature Conservation Fund, Sauraha, the survey is being conducted in all the areas of Parsa, Bara and Rautahat Division Forest Office except Pratappur of Parsa from the first week of January.

He shared that 300 pairs of cameras have been placed in those areas. Survey will be carried out in Shuklaphanta and Laljhadi areas with the help of cameras and after surveying all the areas, data will be collected. The survey started from Chitwan by dividing Chitwan and Parsa into three blocks. Camera trapping work has been completed in the first and second blocks and work has started in the third block.

Each four square kilometers of area is surveyed by assembling a pair of cameras on a grid. According to Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, Assistant Conservation Officer and Information Officer of the park, camera trap, range finder, GPS and record firm have been used in the survey. The photos collected by the camera are now being stored on laptops and computers.

He informed that after the completion of the survey work in all the three blocks, the team including experts will collect the photos taken from the camera in one place and get the final result through software. It is estimated to cost around Rs. 40 million. After the photo study, the statistics are planned to be made public on the occasion of World Tiger Day on July 29.

According to the 2018 Tiger Census, 235 adult tigers were found in Nepal. At that time, 93 tigers were found in Chitwan, 87 in Bardiya, 18 in Parsa, 16 in Shuklaphanta and 21 in Banke. This number is expected to increase. Nepal had pledged to increase the number of tigers to 250 by 2022 at the 2010 Tiger Summit of 13 Heads of State in St. Petersburg, Russia. At that time, there were 121 tigers in Nepal.