Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday said his ministry has drawn a plan to count the number of tigers in the wild and take steps for their conservation.

"We have got ready a definite plan of action using the technical know-how from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology to document each and every tiger and help stop in-breeding, a major cause for the depletion of tiger population," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said.

The plan will adopt the scat-scramble procedure, wherein the fecal matter of tigers would be collected and sent to CCMB labs for DNA finger-printing of each tiger, he said.

• Tiger task force calls for red alert

The procedure, apart from giving the exact number of tigers in the wild, will tell conservationists whether the big cat suffered from any genetic disorders arising from in-breeding, he added.

If the test results showed the tiger had genetic diversity, then the wild cat would be subjected to electro-ejaculation after putting it to sleep, he said.

The semen collected would be used for insemination in other areas to prevent in-breeding and bring about a healthy change in the tiger population, Sibal said.