Assam's Nameri tiger reserve has five to eight tigers

GUWAHATI: The 344 sq km Nameri Tiger Reserve (NTR) in Assam's Sonitpur district has an estimated five to eight tigers, according to the latest assessment of predators and prey status report.

The assessment, carried out between 2012 and 2014, has confirmed NTR, located on the northern banks of Brahmaputra, is a low density tiger reserve with tiger density varying from 1.3 to 1.5 tigers per 100 square km.

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)'s assistant inspector general of forest, Rajendra G Garawad, who was the divisional forest officer of western Assam wildlife division during the assessment period, said that the study also threw up for the first time the tiger dispersal between Kaziranga Tiger Reserve (KTR) and NTR.

KTR is located on the southern banks of Brahmaputra. The aerial distance between KTR and NTR is approximately 65 km.

Garawad said that during the assessment it was documented that a male tiger which was captured in camera at KTR in 2011 was also photographed at NTR in 2012-13, confirming that big cats use corridors between the two tiger reserves. This finding also called for management of tiger dispersal corridors and extensive awareness campaigns for local communities.

The assessment report, released on Sunday on the occasion of International Biodiversity Day at Potasali near NTR, revealed a total of 36 species including seven wild cats (tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, jungle cat, golden cat, marbled cat and leopard cat) and five ungulates (sambar, gaur, barking deer, hog deer and wild boar) captured during three years of camera-trap exercise.

The report said NTR has leopard population ranging from five to eight individuals with a density of 1.59 to 4.55 leopard per 100 sq km.

In case of the elusive clouded leopard, it is estimated that there are four individuals.

"Existing anti-poaching initiatives needs to be further strengthened and consolidated for long term conservation of tiger in this landscape. There is a need for management interventions like creating new anti-poaching camps and patrolling paths in strategic locations, intensifying the existing patrolling regime and restoring degraded habitats," the report suggested.