Wildlife Institute of India to house India’s first tiger repository

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in first week of August 2016 announced that it will house India’s first repository on tigers, under its new Tiger Cell.

The Tiger Cell was inaugurated on 6 August 2016. It will be funded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the Environment Ministry.

The Dehradun-based WII has about 23000 images of tigers, which will be maintained by the Tiger Cell.

Key highlights of the Tiger Cell

• The Tiger Cell will assist in population assessment of tigers, law enforcement, wildlife forensics, infrastructural development and mitigation, smart patrolling and advisory role in policy formulation.

• If a tiger skin is recovered at a place, then a properly maintained database can be used to check where the tiger might have come from.

• When a project needs environmental clearance, the spatial data can be used to overlay the project plan on the maps and check whether the project will interfere with wildlife habitats that must not be disturbed.

• Y.V. Jhala, a wildlife scientist at the WII, will head the Tiger Cell.

About Wildlife Institute of India

• The Wildlife Institute of India is an autonomous institution under the Union Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change.

• WII carries out wildlife research in areas of study like biodiversity, endangered species, wildlife policy, wildlife management, wildlife forensics, spatial modeling, ecodevelopment, habitat ecology and climate change.

• The founder of WII was V. B. Saharia.

• The first Director was Hemendra Singh Panwar who remained the director from 1985 to 1994.

• The institute is based in Dehradun. It is located in Chandrabani.

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