Census reveals presence of tigers in Satkosia Reserve in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Angul, Mar 19:

The recently concluded all India tiger census has found presence of a few Royal Bengal tigers (RBT) inside Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Angul district.

According to SMT Rehman, Divisonal Forest Officer (DFO) of Satkosia Wildlife Division, the presence of about 2 to 3 Royal Bengal tigers have been ascertained on the basis of their pug marks found in 13 places in the core area of the reserve forest.

He said for correct identification of pug marks, about 1000 press impression pads (PIPs) were laid at various areas inside the reserve forest.

“We have collected the excreta, the scratch mark on the tree barks, the leftover meals and footages from CCTV cameras that would be sent to the laboratory for analysis after which the exact number of tigers in the reserve forest could be made”, the DFO informed.

Apart from the tiger census, the forest officials had also carried out the census of herbivorous animals inside Satkosia forest.

The census has revealed the presence of 30 herbivorous animals in every one sq km of forest inside the Satkosia Wildlife Division while their number is 26 inside the tiger reserve of Mahanadi Wildlife Division.

The DFO also informed that the census has also found the presence of 15 Sambhars in every one sq km inside the core forest area of Mahanadi Wildlife Division.

“For survival of tigers, the presence of Sambhars is necessary. Going by the census report, the number of Sambhars inside Satkosia reserve forest is quite encouraging for the survival of tigers”, he added.