Exact estimation of tiger numbers will take a year: Ministry

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) The countrywide methodology being followed in estimating the population of tigers will take about a year to yield data.

The process has three distinct phases, and so far, only phase-I has been completed in the tiger States, and the data as received from States was being processed at the Wildlife Institute of India, the Ministry of Forest and Environment said here today.

The new methodology would yield data on tiger numbers only at the conclusion of Phase-III. The methodology cannot yield even approximate numbers without completion of phase-III and no estimates are possible at this stage, since the whole process may take almost a year.

It has been developed by a collaborative research project between Project Tiger and the Wildlife Institute of India.

It involves sampling and estimation of tiger density at different strata using a combination of methods, i.e. camera traps, digital photography of pugmarks to fix identities on a mark-capture statistical framework and correlation with physical signs of tiger presence, prey base, etc.

The methodology has been peer reviewed and accepted by the Tiger Task Force constituted by the National Board for Wildlife chaired by the Prime Minister. Panels of internal as well as external experts have peer reviewed the process right from the stage of primary data collection in the field, the Ministry said.

UNI NAZ PK BD2014