CHITWAN, August 23: A recent study has shown a significant increase in the number of Bengal tigers in Parsa National Park (PNP). Parsa Wildlife Reserve, which was established in 1984, got the status of a national park in April 2017.
During the tiger count of 2007, the reserve only had four tigers which increased to seven in 2013.
Tiger population estimated to have doubled
According to Baburam Lamichhane, an investigation officer of the National Nature Conservation Fund (NNCF), Sauraha the number of tiger has now leapfrogged to 19. He further informed that the population of tiger had reached 10 in 2014 and later it climbed to 19 in 2016.
Researchers have placed cameras in places inhabited by tigers which automatically capture photos if anyone or anything moves in front of it. This method, which is known as camera trapping, has proven to be very useful for the researchers and investigators. As the stripes of tigers don't match with one another, researchers evaluate the photos of tigers and then count their number. PNP is not just attached to Parsa but also with Bara and Makwanpur. Chitwan national Park (CNP) which is known as the main habitat of tigers is also not too far from PNP.
During the tiger count of 2013, the total population of tiger in Nepal was 198. There were 120 tigers in CNP alone. Some of them were moved to Parsa later. Some tigers keep changing their habitats.
According to Lamichhane, about 70 percent of tigers are repeatedly captured in cameras which prove that these tigers have permanently shifted to PNP.
Though there are human settlements in the buffer zone with more than 100,000 people, the increasing number of tigers has no risk to them, according to officers of the national park.
