Team TNV
The fresh confirmation about presence of tigers in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary is quite evident to declare the core of the sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve- a long pending demand of the environmentalist that saw successive State Government’s dragging its feet on conservation of wild-cat. This is not the first time that Tiger presence has been felt in this protected area.
In 1999, 208 sq km of the Mhadei region in the Western Ghats area of Sattari was notified as a wildlife sanctuary, mainly due to its potential for becoming one of the finest tiger habitats in India and the world as the forests here are the only tiger corridors between the Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary and the Anshi-Dandeli tiger reserve of Karnataka, and the reserve forests of Sindhudurg in Maharashtra.
If one recalls, the State Forest Departments animal census in 2002, 2006 and in 2010 had shown the presence of tiger in the State’s wild. Further, the 2010 census had stumbled upon the presence of five tigers in Goa’s wilds, and an increase in the number of leopards and wild dogs
In 2013, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun had authenticated the presence of tigers in Goa through a camera-trap method. Similarly, three tigers were caught again in the camera in 2014.
Interestingly, despite all this, the State government claimed that the tigers are not habitat of State wild but migrated from the neighbouring Anshi-Dandeli tiger reserve of Karnataka, and the reserve forests of Sindhudurg in Maharashtra.
“The State’s reluctance to admit the fact that Goa’s wild is tiger habit was basically to grant protection to iron ore mining leases operational in those areas,” renowned environmentalist and member of National Wildlife Board (NWB) Rajendra Arlekar told TNV.
The Union Ministry for Environment and Forest (MoEF) ever since 2011 had been directing State to submit proposal to declare Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as tiger reserve. MoEF proposal is been supported by NWB and National Tiger Conservation Authority. Even after repeated reminders, State did not show any interest in taking the proposal forward.
Kerkar said that with the recent news of five tigers in Mhadei, he would be making a fresh petition before the NWB for tiger conservation in the wildlife sanctuary, following proper conditions laid down by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Also there is need for Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka to make joint efforts towards protecting and conserving tiger population in the areas, he said. “Maharashtra, Goa, and Karnataka should show strong commitment for protecting these last remaining tiger bearing forests in the northern Western Ghats,” Kerkar said.
In October 2016, the State Wildlife Board under then Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had resolved to declare all of the State’s protected areas – its wildlife sanctuaries – as tiger reserves, following camera trap techniques authenticated presence of wild cat. However, till date, it continues to remain mere proposal on the paper.
