Tigress and three cubs spotted in Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in Goa

An adult tigress and three cubs have been spotted in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in Goa marking the first time evidence of the species has been recorded in the forests bordering the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka since 2020.
The sightings, yet to confirmed by the forest department, are likely to have a bearing on the state government’s challenge to a Bombay high court order directing it to declare the sanctuary a tiger reserve following a recommendation from the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Villagers and people driving along the NH 748 spotted the adult tigress and two cubs, and captured videos, within the sanctuary last week.
“Eight days ago, when I visited the area, I came across scat of a tiger. Besides that, in the vicinity of the Anjuna dam (located within the sanctuary) several people including truck drivers have reported seeing the tiger along the route (Chorla Ghat between north Goa and Belgavi) and other reports have come from the village of Ponsuli where the people have seen the tigress and cubs heading towards the villages of Karnataka,” Rajendra Kerkar, an environmentalist and resident of Keri village inside the sanctuary, said.
Ponsuli village lies on the hillslopes of the Western Ghats beyond which lies villages of Maharashtra on one side and Karnataka’s Chorla village on the other.
The Goa forest department, however, said that it was yet to record a sighting.
“We have not received any reports and if there was a sighting I would have known. Our camera traps are operational but their data is confidential,” principal chief conservator of forest Kamal Datta said.
The development has brought cheer to the wildlife lovers in Goa, marking the first such sighting since 2020 when a tigress and three cubs died after they consumed the poisoned meat of a buffalo. Four dhangar forest dwellers were arrested for orchestrating the deaths.
The deaths prompted Goa Foundation, an environment NGO to file a plea with the Goa bench of the Bombay HC seeking the Mhadei sanctuary be declared a tiger reserve.
The NTCA in its inquiry report on the aftermath of the killing of four tigersin February 2020 said,“The protected areas of Goa (Mhadei and Mollem) are part of the Western Ghats landscape complex which has the unique distinction of having the world’s largest tiger population. This landscape has several interconnected tiger reserves and protected areas along with reserve forests. However, factors like plantations, agriculture, industrial and infrastructure development activities like widening of roads and railway lines are threatening the existing habitat connectivity in the Western Ghats. Without upgrading the legal status of Goa’s protected areas to that of a tiger reserve and putting in place a strong protection regime in place, the state may become a death trap for tigers dispersing in this landscape.”
The court, in an order on July 23, 2023, said: “The State Government was bound to notify Mhadei WLS and other areas as a tiger reserve, given the recommendations of the NTCA on this issue,” even as it clarified that NTCA recommendations are mandatory under Section 38-V (1) of WLPA (Wildlife Protection Act) and not optional.
The state government in the high courtopposed the status of a tiger reserve for the sanctuary, saying that “the time was not right to make such a declaration… and that further studies were necessary, and the rights of the forest dwellers also needed to be settled entirely before such steps could be taken.”
The State challenged the High Court’s order in September last year arguing that a decision to notify a tiger reserve was “premature”, further studies were necessary, and the rights of the forest dwellers also needed to be settled entirely before such steps could be taken. The next hearing date is tentatively on November 8.
A 2023 study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), Mumbai based conservation non-profit conducting large-scale tiger population estimation exercise in wildlife corridors and habitats outside protected areas, in association with the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve and the forest of territorial circle of Kolhapur, Maharashtra, estimated that the tigers of Mhadei sanctuary are part of a total of 10 tigers in the corridor between the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve and newly declared Conservation Reserves of Maharashtra and the Kali Tiger Reserve of Karnataka that shares a border with Goa’s Mhadei, Mollem and Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuaries.
Separately, the Goa State Wildlife Board rejected a proposal to set up a tiger reserve in Goa saying it “not feasible” under guidelines of the central tiger authorities.
The state has argued that the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary with an area of 200 sq km was less than the recommended 800 sq km for setting up of a tiger reserve.
Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemão hit out at the government for failing to acknowledge the presence of tigers in the state. “There is a need for tiger conservation in the Western Ghats. But this adamant government is not ready to accept the presence of tigers. They also want to turn our forests into concrete jungles by selling our land and because of this it is least bothered by this important issue,” he said.
“On the pretext of Goa’s small wildlife sanctuaries not fitting the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) criteria for setting up a Tiger reserve, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is trying to divert the attention and misguide people of the state. With the tigers spotted in Goa in the year 2014 and 2018, there is increasing demand for the constitution of the Tiger Reserve in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, but the government is turning Nelson’s Eye over it,” he added.