Count Tigers, Earn Your Stripes from Forest Wing

Hyderabad: The forest department is expected to put this call out soon, not announcing jobs but seeking volunteers to assist it as it gears up for Phase-I of the sixth cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation next month.

Faced with a staff deficit across the department, particularly in the two tiger reserves at Amrabad and Kawal, the forest department is planning to invite volunteers to join the six-day Phase-1 of the tiger estimation exercise which is expected to be held in the third week of November.

A senior department official said options were being created using which volunteers can sign up for taking part in the tiger estimation which will give them an opportunity to not just go into the forest, but actually observe wildlife, and contribute to the efforts to save the tiger, the forests, and rest of the wildlife.

A meeting has been scheduled by the department on October 31 with NGOs involved with nature and wildlife, after which the volunteering process will begin. “All those selected will be trained on what they will be expected to do and how to do it during the walks,” the official said.

The Phase-I of the estimation exercise involves 5 km one way carnivore walks and 2 km one-way transect walks during which the survey team will be expected to take notes of signs of presence of tigers or leopards, and prey animals such as various species of deer.

The estimation exercise will not just in the two tiger reserves but in all forest areas including all the reserve forests, and its seven wildlife sanctuaries at Eturunagaram, Pakhal, Pranahita, Sivaram, Pocharam, Kinnerasani, and Manjira.

Though the department has vacancies across the board, around 1,800 at last count, the vacancy level is the highest in the Amrabad and Kawal tiger reserves which between them have 42 per cent of posts lying vacant. This past April, Union forests minister Bhupender Yadav had written a letter to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy highlighting the need to fill the vacancies in the tiger reserves. He had stated that it was imperative to fill the vacancies in a timebound manner through a special drive keeping in view of the All India Tiger Estimation.