Bhubaneswar: The forest department has commenced the annual crocodile headcount exercise in the Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district today. The exercise will continue till January 22.
As many as 22 teams have been constituted to count the crocodiles in the creeks, rivers, wetland sites in four ranges within the park and its nearby areas. The national park has remained shut to visitors as human activity could disrupt the process.
The restrictions for visitors will also prevent noise pollution during the counting of the crocodiles.
Bhitarkanika is believed to house 70 per cent of India’s estuarine crocodile or saltwater crocodiles, conservation of which started in Bhitarkanika in 1975.
The number of saltwater crocodiles, the species that are not found in any other river system in Odisha, stands at 1,811 in the Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary, as per the latest census.
Adequate conservation measures by the state forest department have led to a systematic rise in the number of these reptiles over the years, forest officials said.
