Face2News/Chandigarh

The Department of Forests & Wildlife, Union Territory of Chandigarh, in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun is conducting Wildlife Survey from 20th to 28thNovember, 2025 in the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary (SWLS), UT Chandigarh and various other forest areas including Botanical Garden, Sukhna Choe reserve forest and lake forest etc..

Whats New:• This year’s exercise expands the scope of monitoring by covering multiple taxonomic groups such as mammals, birds, reptiles and habitat parameters. • The survey will also integrate the Asian Waterbird Count (AWC) at Sukhna Lake, enabling a more comprehensive assessment of the region’s biodiversity.

• Further for this survey, the Department is adopting a more inclusive and collaborative approach enhancing public participation and wider stakeholder consultation.• Earlier survey were mostly concentrated on Sukhna wildlife sanctuary, but this time the scope of the survey has been expanded to city areas covering various forest patches which have wildlife such as lake forest, Patiala ki rao, and Sukhna Choe reserve forest.• The techniques used this time will be most modern in the field and camera traps will also be used along with transact lines,indirect method of estimation and so on.

• This year the survey will be done in night time also to include nocturnal animals and birds also.
In this regard, the Department of Forests & Wildlife, UT Chandigarh organized a Capacity Building Workshop for the Department, Stakeholder Departments, NGOs and Volunteers for the forthcoming Wildlife Census with scientific and technical support from the WII, Dehradun. The workshop was held on 19thNovember, 2025 at 9:00 AM in the Conference Hall, 2ndFloor, Forests & Wildlife Department, UT Chandigarh. Volunteers from various NGOs, Educational Institutions, Chandigarh Bird Club, Media organizations and individual wildlife enthusiasts, who registered online for the workshop, actively participated in the event. Approximately 40 volunteers and participants attended the workshop.

The workshop commenced with a welcome speech by worthy CCF&CWLW, followed by a brief presentation on the methodology, objectives and importance of the upcoming Wildlife Census by Prof. G.V. Gopi, Ph.D., Scientist–F, Department of Endangered Species Management and Nodal Officer, Conservation Advisory and Policy Cell, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. Further, the WII team also presented detailed survey techniques for mammals, birds, butterflies, reptiles and vegetation.The second half of the day was filled with technical lectures and wildlife techniques to be used in field during the survey.