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Gujarat had inputs about tigers for past few years

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WII claiming that tigers are moving up to the borders of the state

The presence of a tiger with photographic evidence has finally established that the tiger has returned to Gujarat, vindicating regular inputs sent over the past years by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) claiming that tigers are moving up to the borders of the state.

Sources in WII said the agency had evidence that tigers from Nasik in Maharashtra and even Madhya Pradesh had reached Gujarat border. The WII has on several occasions written to the Gujarat government to be on alert and had expressed the possibility that tigers could enter the state any time.

“We had got DNA evidence that tigers had come upto Gujarat border and hence WII had written to the state government two years ago informing them that the state has to be ready as tigers were approaching the state,” said Y V Jhala, an expert on the big cats.

Jhala said that the WII had also collected scat of tiger from the border of Gujarat. The analysis had proved the presence of tigers near Gujarat border. “We had been getting reports of tigers coming to Gujarat for the last two years from the Nasik side,” said Jhala.

“If Gujarat wants to conserve tigers, it will have to create a national park or a sanctuary spanning at least 500-800 sq km, which can house a sizeable population of tigers,” said Jhala, who is associated with the National Tiger Conservation Authority. “Lions can live close to people, but tigers need isolated spaces,” he said.

Quote:Another senior officer from WII said that the Gujarat government has not made any serious efforts to re-establish tigers in the state. “Had the state begun taking action it could have developed a new habitat for tigers in Gujarat and in the next three years that is by 2022 the state would have been able to house a sizeable population,” said the officer.

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