Nalgonda: The Ministry of Forests has begun installing trap cameras in the Naramara Forest area in the Nargonda region as part of its annual summer wildlife enumeration event.
Officials said the enumeration was conducted in the summer, when wildlife frequently visited water corpses and saucers to eliminate their thirst, increasing the chances of capturing action on the camera.
The Nallamala forest spans 65,030 hectares of the region, covering three forest ranges – Devarakonda (13,765 hectares), Kambalapally (14,000 hectares) and Nagarjunasagar (38,265 HA). This year, 50 trap cameras will be installed, within the Kambalapally range, 30 trap cameras will be installed in Devarakonda, and 30 will be installed in Nagarjunasagar. The special trap camera will also be installed on the watchtower of Circle Thanda in Kambalapally Mandal.
Kambalapally Forest Range official Bhasker said the device began on Tuesday. The camera is near Tok Dam and dish pits, and animal activity is expected to be high. In the area, a total of 60 dishes were dug to support wildlife.
Preliminary estimates indicate the presence of 26 leopards, 50 bears, 105 dholes in the forest, as well as several unproven spotted deer, peacock, Indian coronal porcupine, bucks and goats. The final enumeration data will end in the summer, officials added.
