Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park To Remain Closed For Visitors For 10 Days For Croc Census; Know Details

Kendrapada: The Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha’s Kendrapada district will remain out of bounds for visitors for 10 days from January 4 for the annual headcount of estuarine crocodiles.

According to sources, in order to ensure a smooth and human interference-free census operation, the national park will remain closed for visitors from January 4 to 14.

A total of 22 teams will be engaged in the crocodile census exercise. The enumerators, assisted by trained forest staff and herpetologists including noted crocodile researcher Sudhakar Kar would cover the Bhitarkanika river system, creeks, water inlets as well as nullahs during the census operation.

As per the findings of the last year’s headcount of the reptiles, the number of crocodiles in the national park stood at 1,768.