Tiger census gets under way in Karnataka

The tiger census got underway in Karnataka on Monday (January 5, 2025) across all forest areas of the State including the Kali, Bhadra, Nagarahole, Bandipur and B.R.T. Tiger reserves.

Karnataka has the second highest number of tigers in the country after Madhya Pradesh. Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre said the census is part of the nationwide tiger estimation exercise which is conducted once every four years.

The 2026 census is the sixth such exercise with earlier the enumeration conducted in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022. In the previous census it was estimated that Karnataka had around 563 tigers.

The census will be carried out in all patrol beats of the 38 forest divisions across every forest range in the State for which training was given to frontline personnel of the all 13 forest circles and the five tiger reserves between October and December last year.

During the first phase of the enumeration for three days, starting on January 5, teams comprising three members will patrol five km daily in forest areas across the state. They will collect details of pugmarks, scats and direct sightings of tigers, leopards and other carnivores and also elephants.

During the second phase, from January 15 to 17, the estimation will be conducted in 14 forest divisions, during which teams will move through forests to collect data on direct sightings of herbivores such as deer, sambar, wild buffalo and gaur.

“This will help determine where camera traps should be installed,” Mr. Khandre said.

Project Tiger Director Ramesh Kumar who has been nominated as the nodal officer to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) will oversee this year’s census.

“He (Ramesh Kumar) has been instructed to list the number of tigers and other carnivores in each area, assess the population of herbivores in each division, understand how many tigers each forest supports and how much prey is available for them, and thereby identify the forest’s carrying capacity,” the minister said..

Using the data collected in the first two phases, camera traps will be installed at suitable locations in the third phase.

“There are 2,230 camera traps in the five tiger reserves and camera trap surveys have already begun in all five tiger reserves. Of these Nagarahole Tiger Reserve has 600 camera traps, Bandipur Tiger Reserve 550, B.R.T. Tiger Reserve 300, Bhadra Tiger Reserve 330, and Kali Tiger Reserve 450 camera traps,” he added.

He also said that steps have also been taken to install camera traps outside tiger reserves.

Nearby tiger reserves that have completed camera trap surveys will provide cameras for this purpose. “It is observed that tigers are increasingly venturing out of forests into human habitations and it appears that the tiger population in the State has increased this time. We will get to know the exact numbers through this census,” he added.