Chitwan, October 25
The government has decided to hold a new tiger census in various national parks in December 2021 and January 2022.
The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation carries out the tiger census every four to five years in Chitwan, Parsa, Bardiya, Shulaphanta and Banke national parks.
Chitwan National Park’s Chief Conservation Officer Hari Bhadra Acharya says counting tigers in the winter is easy as they come out of during this time of the year. This is a result of the tall grasses drying up, paving the way for the tigers to sit in the sun, basking.
“We want to finish it by January, using the capture and recapture method,” says Acharya.
The counting staff will install a pair of cameras in a four-square kilometre radius across national parks for two weeks to capture as many images of tigers as they can.
The last census took place in 2018. A total of 235 tigers were found in Nepal then, with the most being found in Chitwan (93) followed by Bardiya (87), Banke (21), Parsa (18) and Shuklaphanta (16).
It is estimated that the number has risen.
