Kendrapara: The world-famous Bhitarkanika National Park and crocodile sanctuary located in Kendrapara district of Odisha is scheduled to be closed to tourists from today.
The park will remain closed to tourists for a period of 10 days for crocodile census.
The enumerators will be assisted by trained forest staffs and will cover the Bhitarkanika river system besides creeks and inlets.
“The day-and-night census will be monitored by technical experts, deputed from Wildlife Headquarters. The total number of crocodiles in the park was 1742 in the last census,” said a forest official.
Forest Department officer Vikas Ranjan Das said crocodiles would be counted in four ranges in the Rajnagar forest.