Tiger Number in Similipal Doubles, Odisha Figure Goes Down Than 2018 Estimation

Bhubaneswar/Baripada, July 29: As the Tiger Day has brought not so exciting news from the national front, the popular and one of the most sought after nature destination of Odisha, Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) has registered a quantum jump.

According to the Census report provided by the STR authorities, the tiger number has become 16 now from eight in 2018. However, on the pan-Odisha survey, it was found that the tiger number has gone down from 28 to 20 in Odisha compared to the 2018 figure. 

The STR sources said, according to 2018 estimates tigers within tiger reserve (TR) were eight and those utilising reserve were 12, however, as per 2022 estimates, tigers within the TR were 16 and tigers using the tiger reserve were 20.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests released the Tiger Estimation Report on the occasion of the Global Tiger Day at Corbett Tiger Reserve, today. It can be mentioned here that the previous tiger census in Odisha both in 2014 and 2018 was 28 as they were conducted with a joint collaboration between the Wildlife Institute of India and the national Tiger Conservation Authority.

According to wildlife experts while the state-wide tiger census has shown a downward trend the doubling of number within the SRT has proven a better and quality management strategy. Interestingly, the State Government will also go for its own tiger census from coming October, in two phases. The counting, as per the forest experts will be done with through transect analysis and camera trap method. In transect analysis the Big cats will be numbered on the grounds of footprints and scratch marks etc.

The national tiger estimation report has shown that the Big cat population across India has increased from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,167 during 2022. While Madhya Pradesh has got 785 tigers, the highest in India, Karnataka has 563, Uttarakhand 560 and Maharashtra has 544 tigers.