Tiger tracking camera, memory card stolen

CHITWAN, March 21: A camera installed to keep count of tigers in the community forests of Chitwan district has been stolen and some others intentionally damaged.



The Chitwan District Forest Office (DFO) believes the culprits are none other than poachers. [break]



Chitwan National Park (CNP) had installed 160 hightech cameras. Of these, one has been stolen as also the memory card of another while two other cameras are damaged, informed DFO chief Dr Indra Prasad Sapkota.



“Locals could have done it inadvertently but we strongly believe it to be the work of poachers. Their motive is simple, to erase evidence of their illegal activities,” said Sapkota.



Further indicating the involvement of poachers, a source added, “The information recorded in the cameras was becoming a huge problem for the poachers and they made their move surreptitiously.”



Sapkota informed that the camera thefts took place in Bhimwal Community Forest of Padampur VDC and the Gardash area in the east of the district. “However, we have not come across any such theft inside the national park although cameras are also installed there also. Tracking of wild animals was completed in block one and was about to begin in the next block,” said Chief Conservation Officer of CNP Fhadindra Kharel.



After dividing the forests of the district into several areas, the counting of tigers with the installed cameras had started from the Tribeni area a few months ago. The same technology is in use for counting wild elephants in the district.



The cameras are installed in a given area for 15 days and the information captured is kept for the records, informed Kharel. “The stealing and damaging of cameras at this time is a serious matter,” he added. “The counting covers the populations of prey animals also.”



According to experts, around 100,000 tigers used to walk the earth, but now the number has decreased to 32,000.



Observing the rapid depletion of tigers and other animals, experts believe that conserving the current tiger population has become a huge challenge. “The dream project of doubling the tiger population by 2022 could be hard to reach,” said conservation expert Jhamak Bahadur Karki.



Chief Conservation Officer Kharel also informed that they have been searching for the culprits but no one has been arrested yet.

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