Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Shillong: Meghalaya is tracking rare wild cats and elusive mammals with 161 camera traps. The state Forest and Environment Department joined forces with the Global Tiger Forum to build a comprehensive distribution database. They bought the gear during the 2020-21 period.
The project, Strengthening In-Situ Conservation of Small Cats and Other Elusive Mammals in the State of Meghalaya, maps how these animals use their habitat and coexist. Field teams finished work in Balpakram National Park and nearby South Garo Hills Community Reserves. They gathered scat samples and ran vegetation surveys alongside the camera setups.
Beyond the biology, the team looks at how local people interact with wildlife. They held socio-economic surveys in villages near Balpakram to gauge how much households rely on the forest. Awareness programs reached Gongrot and the Don Bosco Higher Secondary School in Baghmara.
A forest official explained the method: "Camera trapping provides a scientific way of documenting species that are rarely seen and helps us understand their distribution and habitat use."
Staff training remains a top priority. On September 29, the Global Tiger Forum led a workshop in Shillong for frontline workers. Attendees learned about floral identification, biological sample collection, and field data gathering. Another official noted: "Frontline personnel are often the first to encounter tracks, scat and other signs of wildlife, so their field skills are crucial to building a reliable database."
The data will eventually form a state-level atlas. Officials intend to use these findings to draft a scientific conservation plan backed by local communities.
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