Forests and wildlife are considered to be among the main assets of Uttarakhand while on the other hand the human-wildlife conflict continues to be a major problem detrimental to both the wildlife and humans. To get a clearer idea of the wildlife population and facilitate better wildlife management, the Uttarakhand Forest department will be undertaking a wildlife population estimation exercise from December 10 to 13 in the middle Himalayan region of the State.
The department has drafted the protocol for this population estimation with the help of Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The traditional protocol for this exercise has been enhanced with technical aids on the lines of the tiger population estimation exercise, making it the first such wildlife population estimation exercise to be conducted in the middle Himalayan region of Uttarakhand.
Talking to The Pioneer, the chief conservator of forests, Wildlife, Dhananjai Mohan said, “Though wildlife population estimations have been held in the past, they followed the traditional protocol. We have worked with the WII to enhance the protocol by including aspects like Global Positioning System (GPS) among others, to conduct the wildlife population estimation in the middle Himalayas. We will include the varied wildlife in the estimation but will focus especially on monkeys and leopards considering the human-wildlife conflict situation. We do not yet have a reliable estimate of the monkey population of Uttarakhand. We expect that a month or two after the population estimation exercise is conducted, we will be able to analyse and ascertain the estimated population of monkeys in Uttarakhand in the first phase of the exercise.”
“The figures on tiger and leopard population estimates will be arrived at later and the ungulates will be taken up later in the second phase of the exercise,” he added.
Regarding the purpose for the exercise, Mohan said, “Basically we need to have a reliable idea of the population of wildlife especially those involved in conflict situations with humans. The estimation of the simian population will help us plan measures accordingly to mitigate the conflict.”
“The wildlife population estimation will help in planning and implementing effective wildlife management,” he added.