More than 100 people which include team of forest department and NGO’s to join the census from identified points
Vadodara Social Forestry Department will be using 22 points for the leopard census and other carnivores conducted from May 5 to 7. A basic training camp was also organized at Saraar village to give details about the points to remember during the census. More than 100 people which include team of forest department and NGO’s will be joining in the counting of leopards at the identified points.
Forest department of Gujarat state is conducting census of leopards and other carnivores begin from May 5 and goes till May 7 2023. The census of herbivorous animals will begin on May 8. Vadodara Taluka is also among the centre where the census will be conducted from 5th of May.
The preliminary population estimate will be starting from the evening of May 5, 2023 and ends in the morning of May 6, 2023. The final population estimate will start on 6th May 2023 evening and end on 7th May 2023 morning. For the smooth operation a training camp was organized for the staff of the forest department and also the members of NGO’s engaging in this counting.
Basic training camp by department give in depth details about points to remember during the census
“In the training camp we put focus on the basic points like identifying the footprints, points to remember during the census, noting the time to avoid duplication, how to take the POPs of the foot, how to find the steps and how to draw a picture on the transparent paper of the foot mark and other important points for data collection. We are using the moonlight for the census and focus on the points like water bodies frequently visited by leopards.
We kept five people and one forest department members at one point which covers five villages. In this way we make a cluster of 20 villages for our census. We are using natural points like trees, farm houses, tanks for the counting without raising any artificial ones. We are taking safety during the census and the training camp aims to give such important details to the people involving in it,” said Karansinh Rajput, RFO, Social Forestry Department, Vadodara.
“Main focus is on leopards along with other carnivores which will be covered in this census. We will be using basic equipments like torch, acrylic glass, trace paper, sketch pen to draw paws marks, measuring tape, pocket diary, plaster of paris, water bottle, Animal names list, collection bag for collecting waste materials and other necessary items during the census.
This is important to know the exact count of leopards and other animals which are the main part of this whole ecosystem,” said Raj Bhavsar of GSPCA who will be joining the census at one of the point.
