MANGALDAI, March 14 - The Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park in Darrang district which was notified as the 49th Tiger Reserve of the country only in 2016, may soon become the highest tiger density forest in India, surpassing several world famous Tiger Reserves including the Corbett Tiger Reserve (National Park) and Kaziranga Tiger Reserve (National Park).
Much to the cheer of the nature lovers of Darrang district and the officers and staff of the forest, a month-long tiger census with the help of camera trapping conducted by the State Forest department for the first time on their own, which ended in the forest on Friday last has triggered this signal. According to Chakrapani Rai, Range Officer of the forest, preliminary monitoring of the camera capturing has shown the possibility of around 40 individual tigers (excluding cubs below the age of six months numbering more than ten). �All other cameras, except two out of the total 72 cameras with modern technology, installed across the forest have spotted movements of tigers. This is evident from the preliminary monitoring of the camera trapping. We are hopeful of finding around 40 adult individual tigers in this exercise ,� said the Range Officer. �However, we will have to wait till the declaration of the final result after the analysis of camera captures by experts from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA),� he added.
It may be mentioned here that in 2010, according to a tiger status report released by the NTCA, an organisation of the Government of India, Orang National Park was only 0.15 per 100 sq km unit density behind the Corbett National Park with the highest tiger density in the country with an average of 17.83 per 100 sq km. On the other hand, a study report revealed in 2014 declared Kaziranga as the forest with the highest tiger density in the country with a figure of 12.72 per 100 sq km followed by the Corbett National Park (11) in Uttarakhand and Bandipur National Park (10.28) in Karnataka. In the last tiger census conducted in 2013 before Orang was notified as a Tiger Reserve, it reportedly recorded a total of 24 adult tigers. Similarly, in 2011 the figure recorded was 20 and it is easily evident from these figures that the number has been gradually increasing in the forest over the last several years. This may be attributed to the conducive eco system for the habitation of the big cat species and adequate prey base, besides the sincere protection measures taken by the forest officials and the staff.
