Second Phase of Tiger Census Completed in Chitwan-Parsa Block

Chitwan. The second phase of the tiger census, conducted by treating the Chitwan and Parsa National Parks as a single block, has been successfully completed. Following the conclusion of the second segment of the count, which began on Poush 3, the work of retrieving the installed automatic cameras is now underway. According to the park administration, it will take two to three days to collect these cameras.

In the second phase, cameras were placed in 336 grids covering areas including Sauraha, Khagendramalli, Lothar, Pratapapur, Thori, and Someshwar. Around 150 trained enumerators were deployed in this area. The cameras will now be relocated, and the work of photographing tigers will commence in the remaining areas of Parsa National Park under the third phase.

For the tiger census, one grid of 2 square kilometers is demarcated, and a pair of automatic cameras is placed in each. After collecting the images captured by these cameras placed along the tigers' travel routes, technicians will determine the population count based on the stripe patterns on the tigers' bodies. Since the stripe patterns on every tiger's body are unique, similar to human fingerprints, the possibility of counting the same tiger twice is eliminated.

Tiger censuses are conducted in Nepal every four years. This time, the count is being carried out in Banke, Bardia, and Shuklaphanta, alongside the Chitwan-Parsa block. In the last census conducted in 2022, 355 adult tigers were found in Nepal, with Chitwan recording the highest number at 128, and Parsa recording 41. Park staff, technicians from the National Trust for Nature Conservation, and local volunteers are actively involved in this three-month-long census.