Mumbai, July 16 Park authorities happy but also maintain this is just preliminary round, chief conservator of forests and wildlife experts will do final scrutiny Twenty-four leopards and a five per cent increase in the animal count: reads the preliminary wildlife census report for 2008 released by the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), and from the looks of it, it seems bright. The year started on a bad note for the leopards when two leopards were found dead mysteriously in the Yeoor range on January 24 and February 17. However, despite the deaths, the count of the wildcat this year remains steady at 24 (as last year) in the 108 sq km forest. Dr P N Munde, conservator of the SGNP, said: "The leopard population is doing well and the count of other animals is also looking up this year.' The wildlife census this year was conducted between May 13 and 17, and a night machan watch was held on May 19 and 20. According to forest department sources, the pugmarks and scat count is the most important feature of the census. "Studying the pugmark, its size and its width can determine the size of the leopards as well as the exact number of animals prowling in the forest,' the source pointed out. Maintaining that the report released is just a primary one, Assistant Conservator of Forests V L Rathod said, "This report has been released on the basis of the first round of scrutiny. In this round, the national park does an internal study of the pugmarks on the basis of the animals' visit to various water holes. We will now forward this report to the chief conservator of forests (CCF) who along with experts will do a final scrutiny.' Rathod said that the preliminary observation was made by the conservator, the assistant conservator and a range forest officer of the SGNP. The secondary scrutiny will be conducted by CCF Shree Bhagwan and state chief wildlife warden B Majumdar. A source, meanwhile, pointed out that the spotted deer count in the forest has increased considerably this year.