Delhi forest dept set to install 45 camera traps across Asola Bhatti

New Delhi

Delhi’s forest and wildlife department is set to install 45 motion-based camera traps across the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary in the coming weeks, in order to collect data on wildlife at the park, officials said on Thursday.

Each camera, upon detecting motion, can record video and capture photographs of animals for up to one minute, officials said. The sanctuary already has 16 such cameras, which have captured images of animals such as leopards, striped hyenas, spotted deer, porcupines, wild boar, and nilgai, among others.

“Based on the success of the existing 16 camera traps, we have procured 45 more such traps. These will gradually be installed at hot spots where wildlife, particularly leopards are spotted. This primarily includes areas around the watering holes that exist at Asola,” deputy conservator of forest (south) Vipul Pandey said, adding that these traps are in addition to the existing cameras placed and used by Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

Forest officials said the leopard population at Asola Bhatti at present is estimated to be 12, which includes 10 adults and two cubs.

“Multiple images of leopards have been caught, particularly in the day-time. Though leopards are mainly nocturnal, we have noticed they frequently come to the 200 different watering holes we have created and some even follow the same route,” said Pandey, stating that the cameras will be set up at the spots where the leopards are observed more frequently.

A year-long leopard census by WII is already underway, and is likely to be completed by January 2026, officials said, adding that the exercise will give an accurate figure of the leopard population at the sanctuary.

The last mammal census carried out in the area — conducted between June 2021 and June 2022 by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) — had revealed the presence of eight leopards, each identified by analysing the difference in the rosette patterns on their limbs, tail, head and forequarters. Five of the leopards were likely using the sanctuary as a permanent home, BNHS had said.