Big cat spotted again in Mhadei sanctuary

Range forest officer at the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary Paresh Porob has said that the presence of a tiger has been confirmed on many occasions during December in the areas of Anjunem dam reservoir and in Golauli, Sattari.

In April 2013, for the first time Goa's forest department was successful in taking pictures of a tigress in the forest of the sanctuary at Dongurli.

Porob said, "We have already received the information about the presence of a few more tigers in the sanctuary, besides the camera -trapped tigress." Goa government has agreed to conduct a comprehensive study about the existence of tigers in the forests, in the first meeting of the state wildlife advisory board on February 4, 2013, and accordingly Ullas Karanth of the Wildlife conservation society of Bangalore was assigned with the task.

He has used the camera- trap technique to capture images of wild animals without direct human interference. To distinguish one tiger from another, the society has developed image-processing software which allows speedy and reliable identification of tigers from photographs.

In December, this year, the final report was submitted by the society to the principal chief conservator of forest Richard D'Souza, which mentions that in order to ensure long-term sustenance of the tiger population, it is imperative that a standardized and a well-thought out annual prey monitoring system is put in place in the Cotigao-Mhadei complex.

This would ensure long-term sustenance of the tiger population with active participation of forest officials and civil society volunteers, a system already existing in the Dandeli-Anshi tiger reserve area. It has also stated the need for rigorous monitoring of the prey population using best practices followed in the Dandeli-Anshi tiger reserve in view of strategic importance of the protected areasof Goa in conserving tiger meta-population, as a whole in the region.

During the tiger census conducted by Belgaum forest division between December 16 and 23, only one 10-year- old tiger was spotted in Chorla of Belgaum district adjacent to Hivre-Khurd of the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary.

Ambadi Madhav, deputy conservator of forests said, "Though only one tiger was spotted during the field survey, there were several pug marks and scats of big cats, which indicate there are more tigers in the Belgaum forest division." In Copardem, the local residents living in the vicinity of the sanctuary over the last 2-3 months have sighted the tiger on many occasions and their cattle too became victims of big cat attacks.

Dasharath Morajkar, member of Vivekanand environment awareness brigade said, "Mhadei region is a known tiger habitat since the past. Sighting of tiger is not uncommon here." Shantaram Kamat of the wildlife conservation society said, "We will resume this year work of camera trap very soon in the forests of Goa."

An edited version of this article can be read from the link below:

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2014-01-01/goa/45762812_1_tiger-census-tiger-population-tigress