After the automated cameras installed for tiger census in the Chitwan-Parsa Complex are collected, tiger census work will begin in Shuklaphanta National Park, the surrounding Laljhadi Mohana Protected Area, and the Jogbuda area of Dadeldhura.
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The national tiger census is scheduled to be held in the Shuklaphanta-Laljhadi-Jogbuda complex after the third week of Magh.
After the automatic cameras installed for tiger census in the Chitwan-Parsa Complex are collected, the tiger census will be started in the Shuklaphanta National Park, the surrounding Laljhadi Mohana Conservation Area, and the Jogbuda area of Dadeldhura.
‘Initially, the census is being carried out in the Chitwan-Parsa and Banke-Bardiya Complex, then it will be carried out in Laljhadi Mohana and Jogbuda along with Shuklaphanta,’ said Purushottam Wagle, Conservation Officer of Shuklaphanta National Park. ‘The cameras installed initially will be installed here after they are collected.’
The Shuklaphanta-Laljhadi-Jogbuda Complex will be divided into 260 grids of 2 x 2 kilometers. After identifying the potential places where tigers roam, a pair of automatic cameras will be installed in each grid. At least 15 cameras will be installed in one grid.
In the 2022 national census, cameras were installed in Shuklaphanta along with Laljhadi Mohana Protected Area and Jogbuda area of Dadeldhura for tiger census. At that time, tigers were also seen in Laljhadi and Jogbuda.
In that census, the data of 36 adult tigers in the Shuklaphanta-Laljhadi-Jogbuda complex was made public. The data of 36 adult tigers, including 16 females and 12 males, captured on camera, and 8 based on analysis, was made public.
Along with the national census in Shuklaphanta National Park, the park administration has also been counting tigers every year. In the census conducted in the park from Kartik 28 to Poush 10 last year, it was made public that the number of adult tigers, including 21 males and 19 females, captured on camera, and 3 based on analysis, reached 43.
In the national tiger census, not only counting is done by collecting images from automatic cameras, but also studying the condition of the tiger's potential habitat and roaming areas. This is called an ‘occupancy survey’.
Similar to the camera trapping method, for the ‘occupancy survey’, the potential area where tigers can be found is divided into a 15 by 15 kilometer grid. Then, 16 more sub-grids are made in one grid. These grids are located both inside and outside the area where the cameras are installed. ‘In each grid, the tiger’s habitat, footprints, etc. are observed on foot,’ said Laxmiraj Joshi, head of the Shuklaphanta Conservation Program of the National Trust for Nature Conservation. ‘Cameras are installed in areas where tigers are certain to be seen, and an occupancy survey is carried out in the possible area.’ According to him, prey species are also counted along with the tiger census.
For the ‘occupancy survey’, a total of 384 sub-grids will be constructed in the Shuklaphanta-Laljhadi-Jogbuda complex, with 24 grids and 16 sub-grids in one grid. Technicians will monitor these grids on foot.
