This story is from January 23, 2018

5000 forest staff, volunteers embark on wildlife census

5000 forest staff, volunteers embark on wildlife census
Forest minister Jogu Ramanna takes part in the wildlife census at Kawal tiger reserve on Monday.
HYDERABAD: As many as 5,000 forest staff and volunteers took part in the wildlife census that started in Telangana on Monday.
The wildlife census is conducted every four years in forest areas across the country. On the first day of the census, the survey was carried out in Bhupalpally forest area. “The survey has taken off as planned,” principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) wildlife Manoranjan Bhanja told TOI.
For forest minister Jogu Ramanna, who joined another team taking up the wildlife census at Kawal Tiger Reserve in Adilabad’s Kolamgudu Rampur forest beat, it was a good experience as he came across a group of deer when he was in the forest.
He walked six kilometres along with the forest staff during the survey at Kawal.
The pugmarks of various carnivores, including tigers cheetah, bear, Nilgai and forest sheep, were gathered by the team.
The wildlife census, officially called “Tiger Estimation 2018”, will go on till January 29. Scientific methods formulated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) are followed.
Telangana has 3,000 forest beats that will be covered during the census. During the first three days, carnivore trail walk will be conducted, which is for a distance of five kilometres. Signs of carnivores such as pug marks, claw marks on trees, animal kills, animals calls or direct sighting, will be recorded.
Carnivores include tigers, panthers, wild dogs, wolfs, hyenas, sloth bears, jackals and jungle cats.
On the last three days, a herbivore transect walk of two kilometres will be conducted in each beat.
Direct sighting of herbivores such as spotted deer, sambar, Nilgai, wild pig, four-horned antelope, langoor, pea fowl will be recorded in due course.
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About the Author
Ch Sushil Rao

Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.

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