Non-availability of proper batteries has rendered many tiger trapping cameras non-functional in the tiger reserve Palamu, said sources in the directorate tiger reserve.
Sources said the battery which is now used in tiger trapping cameras here has a short duration and gets discharged in just 7 to 8 hours. The cost of battery has further put the tiger reserve in tight spot.
Sources reminded some time back a different company battery was used in the tiger trapping cameras which used to last for six to seven months. It was highly cost effective and there used to be no problem in frequent change of battery then but these days that company’s battery is not available.
The DFO Core Palamu tiger reserve Premjit Anand has confirmed this saying non-availability of proper batteries in the tiger trapping cameras has doubled up the miseries as it is getting difficult to install such cameras with battery that lasts only for 7 to 8 hours.
Apart from the battery hitch, the cameras are also not water/rain proof. Further this winter fog and mist engulfed the tiger reserve for days together and in this inclement weather such cameras are ineffective to record the wildlife coming in its range.
Trapping cameras are installed near water bodies or prey base where are chances of carnivores coming over there. There is a technique in its installation as well but with a simple practice one can do it said a tiger watcher.
About the stolen cameras Premjit Anand said its number is half a dozen. None of the stolen cameras were ever returned notwithstanding that this camera can not be used in studio nor any one can earn a living by taking photographs with this camera.
Sources reminded that three years back a Naxal contingent had uprooted one such camera so installed as the outfit feared the images of the ultras would be used by the security forces.
Equal number of trapping cameras has been damaged or destroyed mostly by the elephants he said clearing that the flash of the camera irritates jumbos. The buffer area of the PTR has 92 cameras while the core has 29.