Almost a decade after the first ever census of wildlife was conducted in city’s Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary, the UT Department of Forest & Wildlife is all set to carry out the census exercise for the second time in April this year.

Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary spreads over an area of about 26 sq km in the catchment area of the Sukhna Lake, which is Chandigarh’s prime tourist spot. The first census exercise in the Sanctuary was conducted in the year 2010.

The UT Department of Forest & Wildlife has sought assistance of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun for conducting the census exercise and holding the training of UT employees for the purpose.

“The Department has decided to carry out the second census of wildlife in the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary in April this year. We have held meeting with the officials from WII for conducting the census,” said Debendra Dalai, UT Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden while talking to The Pioneer.

He said, “Teams of experts will be constituted for the census. The UT staff will be trained on the methodology to be used for conducting the census exercise.”

For the wildlife census in 2010 also, the UT Department of Forest & Wildlife had roped in experts from WII, leading environmentalists, students from Panjab University’s Biology and Zoology Department and representatives from NGOs.

A three-day census exercise was conducted in 2010 in the Sanctuary and the teams had encountered 9 species of mammals and 65 species of birds.

At that time, direct evidences including the animals and mammals spotted in the area and indirect evidences like foot-prints and animal’s body waste was being considered to authenticate the presence of various inhabitants in the Sanctuary. 

The resident mammalian species spotted were sambar, spotted deer (chital), pangolin (anteater), wild boar, jackal, small Indian civet, jungle cat, porcupine, Hanuman langur, rhesus monkey, Indian hare, common mongoose, Chital and three- striped palm squirrel. Leopards are also a frequent visitor to the Sanctuary. The census team had found indirect evidences (pugmarks) indicating the presence of Leopard in the Sanctuary.

Following the census findings, it was decided to install camera traps in the Sanctuary to spot the animals especially Leopards. At present, there are two camera traps in the Sanctuary.

As per the first census report compiled by the WII in 2010, the total abundance estimation of Sambar in sanctuary was between 1000 to 1200 and of Peafowl was between 900 to 1100.  As per the average, the group size of Sambhar in Sanctuary was reported between 3.39 to 10.07, which was higher than any other protected area in the country.

Prominent among the varieties of birds in the forest area included peacock, red jungle fowl, grey partridge, cuckoos, night jars, golden oriole, kingfisher, swifts, hoopoes, hornbill, barbets, woodpeckers, rollers, barn owls, parrots, doves, jacanas, plovers, coots, hawks, geese, swan, ducks, grebes among others.

The varieties of reptiles including snakes like cobra, rat snake, Common krait, Russell’s viper, Indian python and common monitor (Gho), freshwater turtle also inhibits the Sanctuary. The wildlife habitat also houses wide variety of butterflies, moth and honey-bee in abundance.

Notably, more than 10000 wildlife enthusiasts visit the Sanctuary every year.