PANAJI: Goa's forest department has come across an indirect evidence about presence of tiger in the state's forests during the recently concluded wildlife census.
State's additional principal chief conservator of forest Shashi Kumar said that the same would be confirmed only in the second phase.
"There is evidence of the tiger's presence which will be confirmed through camera trapping method," he said.
Kumar's statement assumes significance amid persistent denials by the department to move ahead with the proposal to declare Goa's wildlife sanctuaries as tiger habitat. In a recent meeting with members of the Western Ghat Conservation Panel, environmentalists had put up a proposal to declare Goa as a tiger reserve.
The forest department conducted a wildlife census with the help of Dehuradun based Wildlife Institute of India (WII), this year. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of Wildlife Week celebrations which began on Saturday, Kumar said that the camera trapping method will take the visuals and indicate the number of tigers in the forests.
Kumar said that the WII is yet to analyse the data collected from Goa since it is busy with the Tiger Census conducted at various wildlife sanctuaries in the country.
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