Tiger census completed in Shuklaphanta

KANCHANPUR: The tiger census in Shuklaphanta National Park has been completed, officials said.

The census was conducted in the Shuklaphanta-Laljhadi-Jogbudha Complex under the National Tiger Survey Program, according to Purushottam Wagle, Conservation Officer of the park.

The fieldwork, which began in the last week of Falgun using the ‘camera trapping’ method, has now been completed, and the cameras are being collected. “The cameras placed across Shuklaphanta and Division One have been retrieved,” Wagle said. “The number of tigers will be determined after analyzing the images from the collected cameras.”

A tiger census is conducted in the park every four years. For this survey, 520 automatic cameras were installed with a technical team of 77 people. According to the 2022 national census, the park had 36 tigers.

The park also conducts an internal survey of tigers every year. According to the latest internal survey, there are 43 tigers in the park. Conservation officers estimate that the number recorded in this national census may be similar.

“The internal survey shows 43 tigers, and the number is unlikely to have increased significantly in a single year,” Wagle said.