1,800 camera traps captures 1.5 lakh pictures in UP 'Tiger Estimation Exercise'

Around 1,800 cameras have captured over 1.5 lakh images from Uttar Pradesh’s four tiger reserves as part of the 2026 tiger estimation exercise, officials said on Wednesday.

Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) Field Director and Chief Conservator of Forests H Rajamohan, who is also the nodal officer the exercise, said the camera-trapping exercise for the latest census was carried out between November 2025 and April 2026 across all tiger reserves and adjoining areas of the state.

“Around 1,800 cameras were deployed for capturing images and over 1,50,000 images were retrieved from



the cameras last month,” he told PTI.

“The retrieved images were sent to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, where scientists would analyse the images for the next few months to ascertain the number of tigers across all tiger reserves,” he added.

On International Tiger Day, he expressed confidence that the reserve would continue to witness growth in tiger numbers in the 2026 quadrennial estimation.

Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) has recorded a 64 per cent increase in its tiger population between 2018 and 2022 All India Tiger Estimation.