136 personnel trained for tiger census at Dudhwa tiger reserve

LUCKNOW: The Dudhwa tiger reserve has completed the training of 136 employees who will participate in the tiger census exercise in the reserve. The census project has been undertaken independently by Dudhwa reserve for the first time.

After the first phase of the training which started in October, the staff was to be given another round of training towards the end of the month so that doubts, if any, could be removed before the participants get to read camera traps. "Experts from WII and WWF will also available for guidance and assistance," said deputy director, Dudhwa, VK Singh. The contractual staff has also been trained for participation in the tiger counting exercise. The census work has started in the core area of the reserve formed by Dudhwa and Kishenpur.

Apart from tigers, the herbivores will also be counted in the reserve so that complete data on habitat, prey base and number of tigers in the reserve could be developed. To come up with an exact official count, more cameras will be installed in the reserve this time. Dudhwa reserve has 46 forest beats (beat is the smallest unit of forest management not more than 2 sq km in area). To install cameras, the reserve area will be divided into several grids, with a single grid measuring 1.6 sq km. A pair of cameras will be installed per grid. Going by that calculation, the reserve would need at least 350 cameras. While the reserve has about 120 cameras of its own, the remaining will be provided by the wildlife organizations.