Three Indoreans count tigers

Indore: Three volunteers have been shortlisted from Indore region for the All India Tiger Estimation, which will begin from Monday. All the three volunteers- Rishi Vashishth, Dinesh Gawali and Himavat Singh- have been assigned the jungle area near Nahar Jhabua, next to Seoni village.
The process will begin at daybreak and will continue for three to five hours. A five kilometre path will be covered every day. The volunteers will be given training regarding the census on the same day. The volunteers will be asked to accompany the forest officials for three days after which the estimation will be done by the staff.
Recommended By Colombia
"Following the day's hike, the volunteers will be free to go home. They have been directed to be punctual," said DFO RP Rai.
Preparations for the census are in its last stage as the forest guards have been given multiple demonstrations and trainings regarding identification of pugmarks, feces etc. The forest department had ordered compasses, range finders, GPS and trap cameras for the same, but they were supplied in limited quantities to Indore being a sparsely populated tiger zone.
Only half of the ordered quantities of GPS devices were given to Indore for the census. Half of the forest guards, who have been assigned the tiger census, have been asked to use their smart phones and its GPS feature for the same. Range finders were also ordered by the local forest officials for the census, but none were supplied here. Also only 20 trap cameras have been sent initially for the census. More are expected to be given for the process.
The process of counting tigers has been divided into three phases. The first phase will measure carnivore sign index, prey abundance index, habitat indices and human disturbances. The second phase will mark human footprint, landscape indices and habitat indices. The last phase will include camera trap marks recapture.

Get latest news & live updates on the go on your pc with News App. Download The Times of India news app for your device. Read more City news in English and other languages.