Maharashtra: 35 tigers in Melghat Reserve as per 'waterhole-machaan' census

A 'waterhole-machaan' census carried out in Melghat Reserve in Maharashtra's Amravati district over Thursday and Friday revealed the presence of 35 tigers and 45 leopards as well as healthy numbers of other wild animals, forest department officials said.

The "Nisarg Anubhav", as the forest department terms the census centred on the observation of waterholes from tree platforms, was held on Buddha Poornima in six wildlife divisions coming under Melghat Tiger Reserve, namely Sipna, Gugamal, Akot, Melghat, Akola and Pandharkawada.

"A total of 547 machaans were set up. We sighted 35 tigers. The number of leopards seen was 45 while 352 sloth bears and 172 wild dogs and 17542 other wild animals were also sighted," MS Reddy, Field Director of Melghat Tiger Reserve, said in a statement issued on Saturday.

"In the last census done on April 30 last year, we saw 16 tigers, 12 leopards, 163 sloth bears and 47 wild dogs," he added.

As per an official release, the census found 752 Indian gaurs, 3318 wild boars, 727 Sambhar deer, 879 spotted deer, 433 barking deer, 10 four-horned antelope, 75 porcupines, 67 civet cats, 15 hyenas, 1685 blue bulls, 5763 langurs, 17 jackals, four pangolins, 398 black buck, 72 wild cats and 2136 peacocks.

Unlike other years, only forest department staff took part this time due to the lockdown in place for the coronavirus outbreak," the official said.