India, Nepal to hold join tiger census in November

New Delhi, October 3: India and Nepal will undertake a joint tiger census next month in their national parks, forests and protected areas. The census will use a globally-recognized method to check tiger count in both the countries.

The tiger census will begin from the second week of November, according to Man Bahadur Khadka, director general of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.

Authorities would install cameras in various known tiger habitats as well as in buffer zones to capture and track the movements of the big cat.

A recent meeting between the officials of Nepal and India had decided to conduct tiger census considering usage of the same method. According to the 2013 tiger census, there were 198 Royal Bengal tigers in Nepal, with Chitwan National Park alone sheltering 120 of them.

The Chitwan National Park in Chitwan and Parsa Wildlife Reserve, which are the habitats of tigers in Nepal, are adjacent to the Balmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar state of India.

Similarly, Bardia National Park of Nepal is close to India’s Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary while the Shuklaphant National Park in Nepal adjoins India’s Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.