Pune forest dept starts registration for waterhole census

The wildlife wing of the Pune forest department has started registration for volunteers for the upcoming annual waterhole census in the district. The census will be held on the night of May 12 in six protected areas under the wildlife division.

The registration will be free of cost and people can send their application to the department’s official email ID at wildlifepune@gmail.com. The last date for submission of the application is set as May 7.

The census will be held at various locations--Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Junnar, Tamhini Wildlife Sanctuary in Pune, Mayureshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Supe, Rehekuru Blackbuck Sanctuary in Ahmednagar, Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in Solapur and Shrigonda tehsil of Ahmednagar district.

The activity will be held under the supervision of NR Praveen, chief conservator of forest and Tushar Chavan, deputy conservator of forest (wildlife), Pune forest department.

“The activity will be conducted at different waterholes inside the sanctuary areas. There are some existing watch towers or Machan. Based on the response from people, we will further expand the required facility,” said Snehal Patil, district forest officer, Pune department.

As per the data, last year the census was carried out at 86 locations across sanctuaries in the Pune and Solapur districts. Around 150 volunteers from across Pune participated in the waterhole census along with forest officials. At least 1,118 wild animals were spotted during this census, among which, Blackbuck was spotted in higher numbers as 451. Followed by wild boar at 278. Great Indian Bustard, monkey, sambar deer, and Bengal monitor are among the least spotted animals. The highest number of 726 animals were spotted in the Nannaj forest range in the Solapur district.