2nd phase of tiger census begins in Nov

The 2nd phase of the tiger census using camera trapping method is going to begin in November, forest officials say. Divisional forest officer Zahidul Kabir said 89 infrared cameras will be used and 30 field workers will take part in the 2nd round of the census in Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans that will be conducted from November this year to June next year. The 1st phase of the Bangladesh-India joint tiger census project was completed in April this year. In the first phase, 89 infrared cameras were used to take pictures of tigers within about 3,000 sq km area in Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans (Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira) for 20 consecutive days. The enumeration of the 1st phase will not be made public. Zahidul Kabir said enumeration of the 1st and the 2nd phase will be done by analysing all the images taken by the cameras. The project is being implemented with financial assistance from the World Bank. A 2004 survey showed that the total Bengal Tiger population in Bangladesh part was 440. The UNDP conducted the census using pugmarks (footprints). A team of Wildlife Institute of India provided training to forest staff on setting cameras in the forest in April this year, according to UNB.