CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu's first official count of its big cat population will start in February.

It comes in the wake of reports of dwindling numbers of tigers in wildlife reserves that shook the nation.

The census, part of a national operation, will cover all national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in a synchronised stretch, C.K. Sreedharan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, told The Hindu on Monday.

The exercise will begin on February 15 and conclude in two weeks. In addition to the Forest Department, non-governmental organisations and educational institutions will be involved in the operation. The modalities are being fine-tuned.

"We are already into capacity-building sessions for our personnel. This census will be more location-specific, methodology-oriented, intensive and systematic than the previous efforts and will aim at near-accurate results. The operation will be funded by both the Central and State Governments," said Mr. Sreedharan.

As per the 2001 national census, the State was home to 88 tigers, 29 of them in the Kalakkad-Mundanthurai tiger reserve.

The Tiger Task Force, set up by the Centre to probe the disappearance of tigers, had said that Tamil Nadu had fared better in saving the big cat. But conservationists questioned the findings, saying conventional census methods such as the pugmark technique would not yield an accurate estimate. They demanded that tigers living outside the reserves should also be taken note of.

At present, Tamil Nadu has five national parks — Guindy National Park, Chennai; the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve; Indira Gandhi National Park in the Anamalais range of Coimbatore district; Mudumalai National Park and Mukkurthi National Park, both in the Nilgiris.

Wildlife sanctuaries are located in Mudumalai, Anamalai, Kalakkadu and Mundanthurai (both in Tirunelveli), Point Calimere in Nagapattinam, Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar and Vallanadu in Tuticorin.

One more tiger reserve, Indira Gandhi National Park, has been notified and an additional biosphere reserve, Agastyamalai in the Western Ghats, will be added soon.

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