State claims it has a tiger population of 202, forest dept exercise sponsored by NGO captures them all . TIGER population estimates based on line-transact and mark capture-recapture method always give a range of population, with the claims often being contested for accuracy. However, possibly for the first time anywhere in the country, a state’s claim of tiger count has been established beyond doubt, with the Maharashtra forest department’s NGO-sponsored camera trap exercise capturing 202 individual tigers — the exact number it had claimed to be roaming its forests. The exercise was conducted by the department in league with NGO Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) between November 2014 and June 2015 under WCT-USAID “Tigers Matters” project. The 202 photographed tigers are exclusive of the cub population, which could be anywhere in the range of 100, according to Anish Andheria, president of WCT. “Maharashtra has become the first state in the country to conclusively photo-capture all adult tigers within its borders,” Andheria told The Indian Express. While 138 of the 202 tigers were found in the core (protected) and buffer areas of the state, 64 were found in the adjoining outside areas. The study also established existence of 180 leopards outside core or protected areas. The district of Chandrapur that has Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve is home to 108 tigers, making it perhaps the most tiger-populated district in the country. “We set up trap cameras in every three square km area after dividing the areas into grids. The database is the product of the camera trap exercises conducted as part of the All India Tiger Estimate 2014 and additional monitoring exercises conducted outside protected areas. In total, 7,771 sq km of tiger habitat was surveyed within and outside the protected areas of Maharashtra, and camera trap data collected over a massive 68,157 camera trap days (one camera trap day is 24-hour deployment of one camera). Of the total effort, 3,975 sq km fell outside protected areas, amounting to 27,970 camera trap days. The information collected from genetic studies conducted alongside monitoring exercises has established the connectivity of tiger populations in different protected areas and will help forest officials design more robust wildlife management policies,” Andheria said. The core-buffer tigers captured on camera in various areas is as follows: TATR (56-52), Melghat (40-2), Pench (23-9), Navegaon-Nagzira (7-0), Sahyadri (3-0), Bor (3-1), Tipeshwar and Pandharkawada (6-0).