Camera trap-laying for tiger census in the Sunderbans to commence from November 26

Kolkata: The laying of camera traps as part of the All India Coordinated Tiger Census in Sunderbans will start from November 26. The camera deployment will continue till the end of November, covering a 4,000 sq km area of the mangrove forest.

Android phone applications of Monitoring System for Tigers-Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-STrIPES)—a software introduced in 2010 by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)—will be used extensively for the sign survey which will be held on December 11 and 12 along the creeks to find out signs of any big cat. The Forest department has already issued a directive for suspension of all tourism activities on these two days for ensuring hassle free conduct of the exercise.

“850 pairs of camera grids will be placed at strategic locations within the Sunderban Tiger Reserve (STR) area and the South 24-Parganas Forest Division area for the census which will be done in coordination with NTCA and Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The cameras will be active for a period of 45 days in each location,” said Rajendra Jakhar, Field Director of STR.

The M-STrIPES software that enables data collection and analysis was also used in the last All India Coordinated Tiger Census held in 2022 in Sunderbans. The application logs earlier findings in an area, authenticates the findings through geo-tagging of photos and this results in more accurate assessment of tiger numbers.

Senior scientists from the NTCA and WII had already visited Sunderbans and held a training session of 90 participants on October 28. All of them will be part of the census exercise.

As per plans, 45 teams will be involved in the total exercise and each team will have two persons who have been directly trained (on October 28) with others being trained by these two already trained members.

The last all India tiger enumeration report released in 2023 found 101 big cats inhabiting Sunderbans. The tiger density was almost 4.3 per 100 sq km. The female male ratio was pegged at 2:1.

The census at Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) in North Bengal is expected to start in January 2026, according to sources in the state Forest department.

The count of the big cats in all the forests across the country, including Sunderbans and BTR, is expected to be released on July 29, 2026 on the occasion of International Tiger Day.