Jumbo census at Bandipur Tiger Reserve from today

The Forest department will begin the four-day elephant census at Bandipur Tiger Reserve on Tuesday. According to Forest department sources, 130 volunteers from across the state have enrolled themselves for the census and 113 beats have been identified. Around 100 personnel from the Forest department will also take part in the census which will conclude on May 19. Every beat will be identified as a block comprising 5 to 6 km area for the jumbo census.

The volunteers would be sensitised to the procedure to be followed and necessary suggestions would be given to them at the Forest office on Tuesday. An agreement will also be made with the enumerators that they would follow the guidelines and will stay at the camps set up by the anti-poaching squad of the department.

The enumerators will have to take count of the elephants they spot in their respective blocks on the basis of age and gender between 6.30 am and 3.30 pm. On May 18, they would spot the elephants based on the dung found in the region. On May 19, the participants will wait near the water sources and keep count of the jumbos visiting the spot for drinking water. On May 20, the details would be collected from the volunteers. All the details would be analysed by National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi, which would finally announce the count. According to last census, there were 1,600 to 1,700 elephants in the region, said BRT Project Director T Hiralal.