Hundreds of wildlife experts carrying sophisticated cameras have begun combing the forests in Nepal’s southern plains in the Himalayan nation’s biggest campaign yet to count the number of endangered tigers roaming in its national parks.
The survey is crucial for planning strategy to double the number of Royal Bengal tigers in Nepal by 2022, as pledged by the Nepali government. Nepal is currently home to only 176 of the animals, which are threatened by poaching and habitat loss. “Simultaneous counting will help avoid the same tiger which crosses over from one side to the other from being counted twice as its motion will be captured by another camera on the other side,” said Maheshwar Dhakal, an ecologist with Nepal’s National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department. “This way the findings can be very close to accuracy.”
