Population estimation study reveals staggeringly high number of cattle on the streets of urban Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract Cattle (bovine species) are economically and ecologically very important and are cosmopolitan in distribution. Increasing number of cattle on the urban streets of developing and underdeveloped countries has become an unmanageable menace in recent time. Consequently numbers of road accidents have increased in the urban areas of most of the developing countries, like India. In the present study, we estimated the population of street cattle wandering on the street/road/highway of Raipur city of India using direct head count method and advanced Photographic Capture Recapture Method (PCRCM). We compared these two scientific methods of population estimation to check their adequacy. We prepared grid (1.0 x 1.0 km) on the map of Raipur city using Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) software and randomly selected 20 grids for the estimation of street cattle population. We used line transects and block count methods for data sampling. Results of direct head count method indicated an estimation of 11808.45 cattle (using line transects sampling method) and 11198.30 cattle (using block counting sampling method) visibly roaming on the street of Raipur city. Further, advanced PCRCM indicated an estimation of 35149.61 cattle using line transects sampling method and 34623.20 cattle using block counting sampling method. We observed female biased sex ratio in both mature and immature cattle. Frequency of mature cattle was significantly higher than that of immature cattle followed by calves. Further, the frequency of cattle in a grid was found in the following order: cow > bull > heifer > immature male > female calve > male calve. We concluded that the estimated population of street cattle in Raipur city is about 34623. Results of both the techniques, i.e., direct head count method and PCRCM for population estimation are consistent. The direct head count method yields the number of cattle visibly roaming on the street in a particular time; whereas advanced PCRCM gives the total population of street cattle in the city. Results of this study might be helpful in the management of street cattle menace in urban habitat and landscape.