J’khand conducts day-long wildlife survey

Jharkhand forest department on Tuesday conducted a day-long wildlife estimation survey to ascertain actual figures of wild animals in all 36 forest divisions, including 31 territorial and five wildlife divisions, of Jharkhand.

The estimation holds significance, as dozens of wildlife species, including tiger, leopards, bison, wild dog wolf and the great spotted eagle, have been diminishing in the state whereas the forest cover has increased in the past decade.

The estimation survey was scheduled for 12 hours from 6am to 6pm at all major water bodies across 36 divisions of forest. More than 2,000 forest officials, guards, trackers and others were engaged in the operation.

State chief wildlife warden, LR Singh, said, “Sighting animals in other seasons is difficult due to thick forest. Summer is the best season for such survey, as small water bodies go dry. The animals are dependent on major water bodies in the forest.”

“The forest staff equipped with cameras and binoculars kept watch on the water bodies as most animals would come out to drink water at least once in 12 hours,” he said, adding, this is not a part of any census but an initiative of state forest department to ascertain actual status of wild animals in Jharkhand forest.

The forest officials in the divisions were given specific formats in which they had to give details of the estimation such as name of animal, location of water body, time of sighting and others.

Singh said the estimation would help in drafting concrete plan for wildlife security and reducing the man-animal conflicts in respective forest divisions.

As part of tiger census, Jharkhand recently conducted a survey of big cats across the 36 forest divisions in April. However, presence of tiger could not be traced in any of the divisions barring two division of Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR).

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