The Rajamahendravaram Wildlife Division is preparing the ground for the All India Tiger Estimation-2022. It will install more than 200 camera traps in Papikonda National Park (PNP) spread over 1,013 square kilometres in East and West Godavari districts.
Nearly 300 Forest Department personnel from the two districts will be deployed in the exercise that aims at identifying the potential sites across the national park and the adjacent forest. The preliminary exercise involves finalising the places to install the camera traps to record the presence of tigers.
Three tigers were recorded in PNP, declared as a national park in 2008, as claimed by the Forest Department in 2016. The park was covered in the Tiger Census-2018 but the number of big cats present there was not mentioned.
“The training of the forest staff to be deployed, including the Divisional Forest Officers and Rangers, commenced on Tuesday. The field exercise will begin in October by installing more than 200 camera traps in PNP and the adjoining forest covers,” said Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife-Rajamahendravaram) C. Celvam. The Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society is training the forest staff.
“The inputs from the local communities in and around PNP will be taken during the field study to identify the potential sites where the census will be carried out,” Chief Conservator of Forests (Rajamahendravaram) N. Nageswara Rao told The Hindu.
The forest department personnel from the divisions of Kakinada, Eluru, and Chintoor were present in the workshop held here on the All India Tiger Estimate-2022.
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