Tiger population in Pench reserve risen to 53: SFRI report

The number of tigers in the Pench Tiger Reserve here has gone up to 53, according to the latest figures provided by the State Forest Research Institute (SFRI).
The SFRI has recently informed about the rise in tiger population to the authorities of Pench Tiger Reserve.
"The results of camera trap and other prevailing methods of counting of tigers between December 2015 and March 2016 revealed that there are 53 tigers in the wild in the Mowgli land," Field Director of Pench Tiger Reserve, Shubhranjan Sen said.
Pench national park, known as home to 'Mowgli', a fictional character and protagonist in English writer Rudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book'.

Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in its report in 2014, based on camera trap method, had revealed that there were 44 tigers in Pench.
However, after two years, when the SFRI carried out the tiger census with the same method, it found that there were 50 tigers in the reserve, Sen said.

"Later, in the counting that was executed by adopting other prevailing methods, the number of big cats went up to 53," he claimed.
The report also studies incidents of human interference in the reserve area and found that it was at negligible level, he added.
"In the counting, cubs up to the age of two-and-a-half years are not taken into account, but if that is also included then this figure would cross the 80-figure mark," Sen said.

The SFRI also released the figures of herbivores in the reserve, which shows that the number of spotted deer, blue bull, sambar (large deer), wild boars, monkeys and bison, too, has increased manifold.
The reserve is spread in 1,179-square km of area, which includes both core and buffer zones, the director said.