Hi-tech cameras to watch UP tiger reserve

Lucknow: High-resolution cameras will now be installed in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve to track its strays. The sensor-enabled cameras will rotate 360 degrees and capture moving objects within the range. This is being done in view of the growing incidence of man-animal conflict in the tiger reserve.

These cameras will send real-time visuals to the control room in the divisional office. To keep the cost of an e-surveillance project under check, the set-up would run on solar energy. Nonetheless, it may cost around Rs 50 lakh.

 UP chief wildlife warden S.K. Upadhyaya said, “The camera feed will be analysed in the control room to determine if the moving object spotted is a tiger, leopard, elephant or any other animal likely to enter into a conflict with humans in the vicinity. Alerts to neighboring villages will be issued accordingly.”

He explained that tigers being nocturnal, move at least 20 km to 25 km in the night and mostly along a water body. It will also help identify tigers with the propensity to stray, added the chief.

 “We already have our team in Dudhwa working on the project.  Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala and Palamu in Jharkhand are already using the technology. We wish to make it a bit more advanced” the official said.

The Dudhwa Tiger Reserve spans across 810 square kilometers area with core area being about 650 square kilometers. Dudhwa National Park and Kishenpur Wildlife Sanctuary, which form the core of the reserve, have, in between, at least 15 villages with agriculture.

 According to forest officials, three big cats have been declared man-eaters in UP since 2008.