Nagpur, May 24 (PTI) More than 3,000 animals, including tigers, leopards and jackals, were spotted during a waterhole survey conducted at Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) and Umred Paoni Karhandala Wildlife Sanctuary (UPK) in Maharashtra, a senior forest official said on Friday.

Nirsarganubhav 2024, a waterhole survey conducted on May 22 in PTR and UPK, Deputy Director, PTR (Maharashtra) Prabhu Nath Shukla said.

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The survey was conducted in five ranges of PTR by field staff and in two buffer zones and UPK by nature lovers, he said.

In Pench, 2,698 animals were spotted, of which 2,380 were sighted in the core area and 318 in the buffer zones, the official said.

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At least 18 tigers were sighted in the Devalapar, east Pench and Nagalwadi, while six leopards were also spotted during the survey, he said.

As many as 657 animals, including nine tigers and two leopards, were spotted in the UPK sanctuary, he said.

Sambhar, spotted deer, wild boars, blue bulls, hares, grey langurs, Indian Gaurs, and mongooses were seen during the survey, Shukla said, adding that 20 sloth bears were spotted, of which 12 were in the Paoni buffer zone.

At least 71 machans were made available for the public, of which 37 were in the buffer ranges of Pench, that is, Paoni (Unified Control) and Nagalwadi ranges, and 34 were in the three ranges of the UPK, that is Karhandala, Kuhi and Paoni WL. Shukla said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)