The Department of Wild Life Reserve has begun the census of spotted tigers in Wild Life Reserves and Sanctuary across the country from Saturday. In Parsa Wild Life Reserve, 12 elephants and 30 officials have been deployed for the task. They will count tigers through camera trapping or directly visiting the tigers' nesting places. The census is being carried out in Chitwan and other reserve jungles in terai districts. It is believed that Nepal has over 350 spotted tigers but due to increasing hunting by unknown groups, the number is believed to have decreased drastically.