'Tiger and Leopard population rising in Orissa'

Bhubaneswar, Sept 29: Tiger and Leopard population in Orissa is up, according to Chief Wild Life Warden Suresh Chandra Mohanty.

Addressing mediapersons here yesterday, Mr Mohanty said while 166 tigers and 332 leopards were figured in the 2000 census, the headcount of tiger went upto 173 and the leopard population rose to 457 in two years. He was giving details of the 2002 census.

The latest census carried out in 2004 reported further rise in their population as 192 tigers and 487 leopards in Orissa, he claimed.

In Simlipal Tiger Reserve, Mr Mohanty said the tiger population increased to 101 in 2004 from 17 in 1972 making it one of the most impressive growth rates under the Project Tiger.

During 2004 census, he said in addition to the tigers, 127 leopards were also sighted taking the total of these two species to 228.

A three-day intensive search for tiger signs to estimate the number of tigers was undertaken in Simlipal in January during which 927 leopard evidences and 738 tiger signs were recorded, the CWW said.

Mr Mohanty regretted that Simlipal has been compared with Sariska without any basis in a section of press although it has been rated as the seventh best Tiger Reserves in the country by an evaluation conducted by the International Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

Simlipal, he said, has been awarded 140 out of a maximum 180 points and ranked seventh among 28 Tiger Reserves in the country.

The CWW said a camera trap team from the Wildlife Institute of India is presently in Simlipal which is an endorsement that the tiger population is high in the reserve.

This has been further corroborated by the direct sighting records between May 2005 and August 2006 in which the patrolling staff of the Simlipal had sighted 21 tigers.

He said Simlipal has dense tree cover and ground vegetation as a result of which the sighting of tigers had always been poor in comparison to the reserves like Kanha where the cover is very thin.

UNI