Bigcats News

[Sanju]

Pug marks and scat hint at tiger presence in Lunawada
Himanshu Kaushik | TNN | Feb 11, 2019, 05:28 IST

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AHMEDABAD:

Quote:Fresh pug marks and scat (faeces) have confirmed the presence of tiger in the Lunawada area.

Earlier, teacher "Mahesh Mehra" had submitted photographic evidence of a tiger crossing a road and disappearing into the wilderness of Boriya village in Lunawada taluka in Mahisagar district.

With these findings corroborating the visual evidence, the forest department has started a drive to ascertain presence of tigers in the state and has also sent the scat for analysis.

Incidentally, tiger was last sighted 27 years ago along the Dang border in Gujarat in 1992.

The photograph which went viral kicked off a discourse that the big cat has finally returned to the state. A senior forest officer said that the area in which he was spotted has been thoroughly scanned and pug marks were found which indicates its presence. The marks do not appear to be that of a leopard, but of a bigger animal, he said, adding that the department is searching for more such marks. Moreover, the search also found droppings (scat) of wild animals, the size of which too indicates that of a big cat.

“We are analysing the droppings recovered to ascertain that it is of a tiger.

The department is also analysing the compensations paid for the domestic animals that were killed by wild animals,” said principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) AK Saxena. These are early indication of the presence of a big cat in the area, and the department is not leaving any area uncovered to get more traces. “We have placed two camera traps and will add more cameras,” Saxena said.

Quote:Though Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are located 100km away the Gujarat border, the sudden arrival of the big cat took foresters by surprise. “We are trying to check and confirm more direct or indirect evidence of the animal’s presence,” Saxena added.

Another senior forester in the area said the department is collecting data of all the compensations that had been paid in the past four months to ascertain the number of big animals that were killed by wild animals.

So far the department was not admitting the presence of big cats in the area, but this is the first time that it has admitted that the scat and pug marks could be that of a tiger.

The officer further said that once the state government gets a confirmation of tiger presence in the area, the National Tiger Conservation Authority

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