Team Herald
PANJIM: In what could expedite the declaration of protected areas of Mhadei and Mollem wildlife sanctuaries as ‘Tiger Reserves’, the recent animal census has found evidence of the presence of the big cat in the areas proving it as a favoured habitat of the tiger. Besides, a tigress was captured on camera within the Mhadei sanctuary.
The month-long All India Tiger Estimation, conducted across all the protected areas of the State, concluded on June 1. The census has found evidence, including pugmarks, tiger scats and scratches in both the Mhadei and Mollem sanctuaries in large number.
Deputy Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Vikas Desai confirmed that the camera trap has recorded a tigress in Mhadei sanctuary. “Mhadei and Mollem have shown lot of evidence of tiger presence. It looks like it is their preferred habitat,” he said.
Desai said the department is in the process of accumulating the data, which will be sent to Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for vetting. “Once WII approves the data, the same would be released,” he said.
Forest Department will soon release a detailed map, zeroing upon the core areas in the Western Ghat region that could be declared as the tiger reserve.
Speaking to Herald, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Ajai Saxena is on record that Goa is a Tiger Range State, where tigers are found but it does not have any tiger reserves declared at this point of time. “Tiger density in tropical forests is inherently low. But still, we are sure that there is the possible presence of the wild cat in the areas like Mollem, Netravali, Mhadei and Cotigao,” he said.
In 2013, Forest Department went high-tech and introduced the camera trap method. A tigress was spotted in areas of Mhadei. In 2017, the camera trap caught a tiger family, comprising of male tiger, tigress and three curbs.
