Bordering the Bhadra Tiger Reserve, declared a protected forest in 1998 under Project Tiger, Hulikanu is home to a modest cottage that serves as a field station for researchers from the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS), Bangalore, who are now wrapping up their annual estimation of tigers in this reserve.
Every year, around October, a team of 10-15 CWS employees and a small army of trained volunteers embark on an intensive survey of Karnataka's major tiger reserves - Nagarahole, Bandipur, Bhadra, Kudremukh, Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple and Anshi-Dandeli, not always in that order — and wind up just before the monsoon. The exercise involves setting up and monitoring hundreds of motion-and heat-sensing cameras on forest paths frequented by tigers (a method known as camera trapping that yields a scientific estimate of tiger populations) and counting prey species while walking along pre-marked routes.
At Hulikanu, as dark begins to shroud the cottage and the surrounding coffee plantations, the Jeeps return and tired researchers file in, leaving their field shoes and leech socks in the courtyard. As they sit down to eat in the relative safety of the field station, the cameras turn on in the wild, ready to surprise tigers with a flash and a click. Since tigers are nocturnal, the cameras are programmed to go into active mode at 6 pm and to switch off at 6 am, says Naveen Kumar, a researcher who has been with CWS for three years. Read the full report here.
Source: Indian Express, New Delhi.
