Pre-monsoon animal count begins at MTR in Nilgiris

OOTY: The week-long pre-monsoon animal population estimation and habitat evaluation at the buffer zone areas of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve(MTR), that includes Singara, Segur and Thengumarahada reserve forests, has got underway on Saturday with the foresters and volunteers off into the woods.

Talking to DC, Mr. Pushpakaran, deputy director of MTR (Buffer Zone), said that as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority norms, the tiger reserves have to conduct two biannual animal population estimation, one during the pre-monsoon and then in post-monsoon period to evaluate  the health of the habitat and the population of animals.

“For this year’s pre-monsoon animal population estimation purpose, the MTR buffer zone woods have been divided into 30 transect lines. Nearly around 70 persons, including the MTR staff and volunteers from green organisations and student volunteers are taking part in the in the evaluation exercise inside the buffer zone woods.

“The teams in different transect lines would study the movement of animals in the respective transect lines and the wealth of the prey base for the tiger and other carnivores, the wealth of flora, fodder availability and water sources in the respective transects. This would give a comprehensive data on the population and movement of big cats and also other animals in the MTR in the pre-monsoon period, as south west monsoon is about to set in here in June” he explained.

The foresters at MTR  would  analyse the data and compare it with the figures of the previous estimation to ascertain the health and wealth of the wildlife and also find out if  there is any abnormal changes in any areas to take necessary remedial measures, Mr. Pushpakaran noted. He further added that various parameters like direct sighting, identifying footprints and droppings would be taken into account to record  the movement of animals in each of the transect zones.