Hyderabad: Gundla Brahmeswara sanctuary — a part of the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam tiger reserve in Andhra — is now a promising breeding ground for tigers. Camera trap census carried out by the state forest department has found that the number of tigers, including sub-adults and cubs, have increased from 18 to 24.

NSTR project director Rahul Pandey said, “We did a tiger census between December to January, and have found that numbers have increased.

There are 17 adults, 4 sub-adults and three cubs. One tiger was poached. Two migrated out and three tigers came in. The areas are spread over 1,000 square km. We are going to cover two more parts of the tiger reserve.”

Census is done in the Prakasam and Kurnool districts, particularly in Markapur and Adoni divisions.

Officials said leopard population has also increased in the area. Officials will start summer relief in the tiger reserve from the second week of March. “We still have water in NSTR and we will be carrying out water filling in mid-March,” said Mr Pandey.