Canacona: The Goa government will review a situation after people living in state’s Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary in South District reported tiger sightings in the area raising the pitch to declare the forest as the reserve.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that he would review the situation after residents of Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary has reported tiger sightings.
Several villagers had told the media that they have been often sighting tiger in the area, and also there are scientific evidence like pug marks recorded by them in the area.
Speaking about the findings, Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar said that the sighting of pug marks in absence of camera trap method can be used as a conclusive evidence to prove presence of the wild cat in Cotigao wildlife sanctuary.
Kerkar said that the locals should be trained to preserve the wildlife and this area be declared as Tiger Reserve.
He said that it is known fact that Cotigao wildlife sanctuary is a rich natural habitat which is having forest connecting Hanshi-Dandeli Tiger Reserve.
“The time has come to preserve tigers who are at the top of our food chain. We don’t preserve tigers, we wont be able to save our forests and eventually, it will lead to water scarcity,” he said.
kerkar said that the forest department can lay camera traps in November-December to establish the the presence of tigers in this region.
Local Malo Bavadan said that he has personally seen tiger several times walking in the Cotigao wildlife sanctuary. “The latest sighting was as recent as some fifteen days back,” he added.
Another youth Yogesh Desai was also stunned to see the wild cat when he had gone to the forest areas before Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
