Safaris in tiger reserves and national parks in the State, which were cancelled temporarily for a week in view of the tiger census to be held from Monday, have been partially restored.
The carnivore and mega herbivore sign survey will be held from January 8 to 10 followed by line transect survey and vegetation, human disturbance, pellet count, etc. from January 11 to 13 in all tiger reserves and wildlife divisions of Karnataka. In the territorial divisions, the carnivore and mega herbivore sign surveys will be held from January 22 to 24 and vegetation, human disturbance, pellet count, etc. from January 25 to 27.
In view of the exercise, the authorities had announced that there would be no safari during this period as there were fears that the safari vehicles would erase the signs or cause disturbance. But consequent to objections raised by the Karnataka Eco-tourism Development Board, and Jungle Lodges and Resorts, among others, the authorities revised their earlier orders and announced that safaris will be held from 7.30 a.m. once the morning round of the census is concluded. However, there will be no change in the evening safari timings and it will be held as usual from 3.30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Forest Department is fully geared up for the Karnataka leg of the All India Tiger Estimation 2018 and has completed the training, including field preparation and drill.
5-km walk in each beat
The carnivore survey to begin on Monday includes a 5-km walk in each beat, totalling a coverage of at least 15 km in three days. A 2-km transect has been prepared for each beat and the survey for ungulate abundance and vegetation, and human disturbance levels will also be carried out in various plots along the same line transects.
The details observed during the exercise would be entered in the ecological module of the Monitoring System for Tigers Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (MSTRiPES), a software developed by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. Incidentally, this Android-based app is being used for the first time nationwide thought it had been used earlier in different national parks.
Once the carnivore and mega herbivore sign survey is completed, camera traps will be laid for Phase IV monitoring, and this year it has been decided to place the cameras beyond the boundaries of the tiger reserves. The previous exercise, conducted in 2014, pegged the number of tigers in Karnataka at 406, with Bandipur and Nagarahole belt having the highest densities.
