New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) Amidst reports of tiger deaths, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel with wildlife officials spotting over 112 big cat cubs in national parks across the country.
"This is one good sign of breeding among the female tigresses which we hope would check the decline of the endangered animals," a senior official from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) said.
"There have been sighting of 112 cubs in reserves like Nagarhole (10 cubs) and Bandipur (12) in Karnataka, Nagarjunsagar (10) in Andhra Pradesh and Kanha (22), Bandhavgarh (12) and Pench (10) in Madhya Pradesh," he said.
In core forest areas of Tadoba reserves in Maharashtra, Dudhawa in Uttar Pradesh and Ranthambore national park in Rajasthan, 13, 16 and 10 cubs respectively, have been sighted with their mothers.
There are total 39 tiger reserves in the country.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Possible tiger pug marks found in Goa
PANAJI: Pug marks that could be those of a tiger have been seen at Maida within the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary during a wildlife census sample survey. On Thursday, two experts from the Dehra Dun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and 35-odd forest department officials spotted them along with some from a member of the canine family.
While officials at some levels are in a denial mode about the presence of tigers in Goa, the findings—made in the presence of the two experts—if confirmed beyond doubt could establish the presence of big cats in the state's forests.
The two WWI experts were in Goa to train forest officials for the wildlife census that will begin on April 21. "The three pug marks comprise two of big cats and one of a member of the dog family, which could be a hyena or even a domestic dog" said Gautam Talukdar, one of the two WWI officers. "Further analysis will have to be done to confirm them," he added.
Experts are now relying on the camera trap method, in which two cameras are placed in the wild and they automatically click pictures of any animal entering the range of the lens.
Confirming the sighting, a senior forest official said, "The site where the pug marks of the tiger were seen shows how a tiger has walked in the area. One imprint was very prominent." A forest department source said the pug marks were likely to be that of a tiger as the claw end of the tiger is more than 2 cm long, almost ruling out the possibility of them being of a panther.
Two years back, a bison had been killed in the same area, but forest officials are not sure whether it was a big cat which killed it. "It appeared to have been trapped in some branches, so any carnivore could have attacked it," a source said.
While officials at some levels are in a denial mode about the presence of tigers in Goa, the findings—made in the presence of the two experts—if confirmed beyond doubt could establish the presence of big cats in the state's forests.
The two WWI experts were in Goa to train forest officials for the wildlife census that will begin on April 21. "The three pug marks comprise two of big cats and one of a member of the dog family, which could be a hyena or even a domestic dog" said Gautam Talukdar, one of the two WWI officers. "Further analysis will have to be done to confirm them," he added.
Experts are now relying on the camera trap method, in which two cameras are placed in the wild and they automatically click pictures of any animal entering the range of the lens.
Confirming the sighting, a senior forest official said, "The site where the pug marks of the tiger were seen shows how a tiger has walked in the area. One imprint was very prominent." A forest department source said the pug marks were likely to be that of a tiger as the claw end of the tiger is more than 2 cm long, almost ruling out the possibility of them being of a panther.
Two years back, a bison had been killed in the same area, but forest officials are not sure whether it was a big cat which killed it. "It appeared to have been trapped in some branches, so any carnivore could have attacked it," a source said.
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