Sahyadri Tiger Reserve camera traps evidence of tigers first time in 8 years

In what bodes well for the ecology of the Western Ghats, the state forest department has captured the first camera trap image of a tiger in the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR) in eight years.

The reserve, which covers the Koyna wildlife sanctuary and Chandoli national park, suffers from the lack of breeding, resident tigers, and a poor prey base.

V Clement Ben, Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director, STR, told DNA that they had camera trap images of a male tiger aged around six to seven years. "The tiger was spotted in the Chandoli national park on May 23 and 24," he explained. The memory sticks from the camera traps were retrieved recently.

"These are the first photographic evidence of a tiger in the STR in the last eight years," said Ben, adding they would focus on strengthening the corridor that connects the tiger project to source populations down south and on the tiger recovery program (TRP).

The 1,165.56 sq km STR includes a 600.12 sq km core and 565.45 sq km buffer in Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, and Ratnagiri. According to the 2014 tiger census, the STR has between 5-8 tigers based on scat DNA and model-based predictions. The results of the 2018 estimation are expected to be out by year-end.

Activities like bauxite mining in Kolhapur affected the STR's connectivity to source populations and habitats like Karnataka's Kali tiger reserve. This led to the STR not having resident big cats.

In April, the NTCA constituted a team consisting of officials from the NTCA, WII and Maharashtra forest department to suggest measures for tiger recovery in the STR.

The forest department plans to release two sets of tigers, each consisting of a male and two females at Koyna and Chandoli and healthy ungulates will also be released grid-wise to enhance herbivore numbers.

Once completed, this will be the first such tiger relocation in the wild in Maharashtra. It will evaluate the feasibility of ecologically unsustainable projects in the landscape like mining and windmills which affects movements of carnivores from source populations down south and suggest measures for strengthening tiger corridors.

Tiger translocation has helped enhance tiger population in reserves like Panna and Sariska, where poaching had wiped them off. Cambodia, where tigers are extinct, has sought India's help to re-introduce them.

Maharashtra has six tiger reserves. The 2014 tiger census said India has 2,226 tigers, up from 1,706 in 2010. Maharashtra has around 190 such big cats, more than the figure of 169 in 2010.