Wildlife census commences at MTR in the Nilgiris

Udhagamandalam: A total census (pre-monsoon protocol) of wildlife in the core and buffer areas of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the Nilgiris commenced on Thursday.

The census will be held for seven days, besides a one-day orientation programme at the training centre in the Theppakadu elephant camp on Thursday, for forest staff involved in the exercise.

A forest official said a census is conducted periodically in the MTR reserve for different animals separately. However, the total animal census is conducted twice a year, one pre-monsoon, and another post monsoon as per National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines.

As far as the core area of the MTR is concerned, with over 100 forest staff, the seven-day field census will cover about 321sq kms of forest area, located at the junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. The census teams will follow the 29 line transects already cut inside the forest and look for animals. In the buffer zone, 170 forest staff involved in the exercise, will follow the 42 line transacts cut inside the forest area.

In the indirect counting method, dung counts would be recorded for elephants and gaurs, while in the sign survey findings of pug marks and scratch marks, would be recorded for carnivores. "The census would facilitate in gauging the current trend in the tiger reserve, besides the health of the forest, and human intervention if any," said a forest official.

The compilation of the data collected will be done on the last day and will be sent to NTCA.