Panaji: The first phase of ongoing tiger census has revealed presence of the wild cat in the protected areas of Mhadei and Mollem wildlife sanctuaries.
Forest department has begun tiger census in the five protected areas of the State wild as a part of All India Tiger Estimation 2018. The census is being conducted across 67 transit points. In the first phase, which is currently on, the volunteers have come across tiger scats and pugmarks in the wildlife sanctuaries of Mhadei and Mollem.
“Yes, we have reported some tiger scats in Mhadei and Mollem areas. The final findings will be available only on Monday,” Conservator of Forest (wildlife) Dr Anil Kumar said. He said that the scats would be sent to Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for examination.
“From Monday onwards, we would be also laying camera-traps in all those areas, where we have found signs of tiger presence,” Kumar said adding that the camera-traps would be laid for a period of 25 days that is till June 1.
The last tiger census conducted in 2014 had reported presence of five tigers in the Mhadei area.
