Local Goa News

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Increased tiger sightings in Sattari

Keri: On June 4, Vitthal Shelke, a wildlife enthusiast noticed a skeleton of a sambar (deer) in Ponsuli in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary. Speaking to TOI, he said, "It (skeleton) is of the sambar that was killed by a tiger during the last fortnight." This ties back to an increasing number of incidents of tiger-sighting in Sattari district of Goa.
In 2015, a survey by the ministry of environment, forests and climate change had indicated the presence of five tigers in Goa. A country-wide assessment of the tiger's status was carried out by the ministry by using a double-sampling approach to estimate the distribution as well as the abundance of tigers in India. In Goa, 105 beats were sampled and seven beats were found to be occupied by tigers. Of the 315 sample trails, the staff of the forest department had detected signs of tigers on 10 of these trails.
The protected areas of Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary along with Dandeli-Anshi tiger reserve in Karnataka are contiguous to five wildlife sanctuaries in Goa and form an excellent corridor for big cats and other wildlife. The ministry had repeatedly written to the government in Goa to move a proposal to set up a tiger reserve, but the state government did not show any interest in taking the proposal forward.
With the drinking water crisis on the rise in Sattari's forest areas, the big cats have been sighted wherever watering holes exist. Speaking to TOI, Sidhdesh Gawas from Shiroli said, "Villagers sighted a tigress and a cub recently at Ghotgache pani, a watering hole along the Goa-Maharashtra border. Movement of tigers has been noticed many times in Shiroli and in the vicinity."
Manohar Parienkar, another resident of Velguem in Sattari sighted the big cat more than three times during the summer in the forested areas of his village.
Recently, minister of environment and forests Rajendra Arlekar, while speaking to mediapersons said, "The government has initiated a long-term study to probe the presence of tigers in Goa and we will be able to conclude the presence of tigers only after final reports are submitted."

TOI Goa News

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