Bhubaneswar, March 21: There has been no decline in the population of tigers in Similipal forests in Mayurbhanj district, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said today.
Of the 61 tigers in Similipal, 16 are males, 31 females and 14 cubs, he said, replying to a written question in the Assembly.
Patnaik, who also holds the Forest and Environment department, said the number of tigers in the forest was found during a census by the state government in 2009 by adopting the pug mark method.
The outcome of the 2010 census conducted by the Ministry of Forest and Environment with help of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, was not known as all the four phases associated with the head count were yet to be completed.
–Agencies