BENGALURU: The most-awaited All India Synchronised Tiger Estimation (AISTE) exercise has started from January 5, across all tiger reserves and national parks in India. The exercise is being undertaken for the first time since 2022.
In Karnataka, the forest department officials, on the directions of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEFCC) along with Wildlife Institute of India, are doing the exercise in the five tiger reserves, five national parks, 37 wildlife sanctuaries and 19 conservation reserves.
The habitat of Karnataka's community reserve- Kokkrebellur, will also be documented in the exercise.
For the first time, the presence of tigers in the coffee estates will also be documented through carnivore sign survey and creation of transect lines. These regions have been included for the first time, because of the increasing incidents of tiger sightings.
PR Rai, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife said, from January 5, the estimation exercise has started across the entire state. The exercise will include carnivore population, prey base, habitat assessment and elephant density. So far, five estimation cycles have been done, the last was in 2022, where Karantaka ranked second after Madhya Pradesh with 563.
As per the MOEFCC report, Karnataka had ranked number one in tiger population in 2014 with 406 tigers. The state slipped to the second position in 2022.
"With increasing conflict cases, captures and rehabilitation it is evident that the tiger population has increased in the state. Also during the previous exercise, many cubs were recorded. These sub-adults and adults are now establishing territory. With this, we are hoping that Karnataka will be No.1 in all India tiger numbers," an official said on condition of anonymity.
"This sixth estimation exercise is being conducted for the years 2025 and 2026 and the results will be released in 2027," he said.
The estimation is being done in three phases. The first is the Carnivore Sign Survey. It is done for three days, where staffers walk for five kilometres each day, to record direct and indirect carnivore presence.
Of the listed 52 divisions, 38 are being covered, where tigers are recorded, said Chief Conservator of Forests, Project Tiger, P Ramesh Kumar.
"The second phase is Line Transect Survey. During this four days exercise, staffers estimate the ungulate abundance through direct sightings. This time we are also using the See Through Compass to detect animals sighting angles and Range Finders to ascertain the distance from the survey line. A total of 380 compasses and 360 finders are being used," Ramesh said.
This year, before the start of the all-India estimation, the forest department started the camera trap exercise from November. The camera trap exercise has been completed in Nagarhole and BRT Tiger Reserves and one block of Bandipur Tiger Reserve. From January 5, the camera trap exercise in Bandipur has also started parallelly, Ramesh said.
The department has totally deployed 2,230 camera traps in the fiver tiger reserves. The camera trap exercise will be completed in Bandipur's second block, and in Bhadra and Kali Tiger Reserves in one month's time.
This has been done, so that the camera traps from these tiger reserves are utilised in the wildlife sanctuaries and other buffer zones, where human and tiger presence is recorded.
All India Tiger numbers
2006- 1411
2010- 1706
2014- 2226
2018- 2976
2022- 3682
Karnataka Tiger numbers
2006- 290
2010- 300
2014- 406
2018- 524
2022- 563
