The National Tiger Conservation Authority has in principle approved the proposal for radio-collaring tigers in the Corbett tiger reserve. The Corbett administration will work in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India for planning and executing this plan.
According to the Corbett deputy director Dr Saket Badola, tigers have been radio collared in South India with good results so the proposal of radio collaring tigers in Corbett for the first time has been approved in principle by the NTCA.
“We will work together with the WII to chalk out a concrete plan for radio collaring at least four big cats in Corbett. This exercise would greatly help us study the tiger ecology, movement pattern of the collared big cats and other related aspects like human-wildlife conflict among other issues,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that there are at least 200 tigers in the Corbett tiger landscape. However, factors like the threat from poachers, habitat fragmentation and expanding human settlements among other factors pose a challenge for the authorities. It is believed that radio collaring the tigers and studying various aspects of their lives will help the authorities learn more about tiger movements, habitat and other aspects which in turn will be useful in planning and execution of measures aimed at improving wildlife security, improving the habitat and mitigation of human-wildlife conflict among other aspects.