Mukundra staff get mobile, app for monitoring wildlife
KOTA: Wildlife department has bought around 104 smart phones and software at around
₹15 lakh
SR YADAV, deputy conservator of forest, MHTR
Ahead of the reintroduction of tigers in the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR), the forest department is gearing up its staff for advanced monitoring of the wildlife. Recently, the department has equipped its employees with more than 100 smart phones powered with a special application for the wildlife monitoring.
“Wildlife department of Rajasthan has bought around 104 smart phones and software at around ₹15 lakh, which have been given to the wildlife department staff including guards and officials, and also required training has been imparted to them,” said SR Yadav, the deputy conservator of forest, MHTR.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) of Dehradun have jointly developed the mobile app named ‘Monitoring system for tigers - intensive patrolling and ecological status (M-Stripes), which helps in the wildlife monitoring.
Now, the department employees are using the technology to track the movements of animals in the park. “Earlier, all the monitoring and research works such as line transect studies, monitoring were carried out on paper, but now such works are being done through M-Stripes,” said Urvashi Sharma, a wildlife researcher working with the MHTR.
Informing about the use of smart phones and mobile app in the wildlife monitoring, Yadav said, “The field staff would take photos of the pugmarks, sighting of the wildlife and illegal activities inside the MHTR.”
Since mobile network will not be available in the forests, the app will work in the offline mode. Once the forest employee’s mobile come in contact with the network, the information would automatically get updated on M-Stripes, the app. “The (GPS-enabled) app will also help in tracking location of the field staff, which will help in improving the work efficiency,” he said.
Yadav said the smart phones have been bought using the CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority) fund, as the purpose is to protect the ecological status of MTHR.