With the sighting of tigers confirmed in Mhadei wild, the environmentalists have now reiterated their earlier demand to declare the entire Mhadei corridor as tiger habitat. The recent kill of a buffalo by tiger and subsequent findings of pugmarks at Chorla has reinforced the environmentalists claim that Goa is a permanent habitat of tigers and not the migratory corridor.
The presence of a large male tigers in the area since many months authenticates the repeated claims of researchers that the Mhadei region harbours resident tigers and not transit tigers like previously thought to be, as the present individuals seen in the area have been active throughout the year, said Mr Nirmal Kulkarni, an environmentalist.
According to the environmentalist transit tigers visit the forests of Goa in the summer months of April and May from adjoining Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and Anshi national park.
Anshi has recently been declared as a Tiger Reserve under Project Tiger, he added.
Tiger sightings have been on the rise for a long time now and these have been reported to various agencies including the Goa and Karnataka Forest Departments as well as environmentalists like Mr Rajendra Kerkar, secretary of the Mhadei Bacaho Abhiyan, who has been relentlessly campaigning for better protection for this mega biodiversity region of the Mhadei valley.
Since 1999, when Mhadei was declared as wildlife sanctuary, we were demanding with the government to declare Mhadei as a tiger habitat but the forest department had not shown any concern, Mr Rajendra Kerkar told The Navhind Times. Continuing further he said that now with the sighting of tigers at Mhadei, it has become important that the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary gets its due recognition from the state as well as the central government as an important large mammal corridor and large cat habitat. The latest sightings will map Goa on the tiger habitat plan. According to the official information, out of the 17 states with tiger reserves, eleven states Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have notified the core tiger habitats. Four tiger states — Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and UP — have taken a decision to notify these habitats. Only two states Jharkhand and Orissa are yet to finalise notification.
As per this notification under Project Tiger Act, a committee is selected by the state government, which will be giving a particular status as well as will work for the betterment of this rare wild spices, Mr Kerkar said. The notification covers an area of around 31940 sq kms of tiger reserves to support a viable population of wild tigers in the country. These are to be established as per provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act.
When the Forest Minister Mr Filipe Neri Rodrigues was asked for his comments on this issue, he said that the central government has to give us notice for declaring Mhadei as tiger habitat. I will assess with my department and will send the report to the Centre and if the suggestion comes from there than we will go forward, he added.
