It’s been seven months since the death of four tigers (one female and three sub-adults) around New year.
Following the deaths, the Central government was quick to send a two-member team to Goa to know the facts and submit a report, satisfied that the killing was for revenge, put the onus on the State Forest Department for their failure to convince the ‘Dhangar’ family who lost their cattle.
The NTCA report submitted revealed that not all is well with the management of Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS).
The report alleges that over the years, the Forest Department has not taken any serious and sincere steps for protection and conservation of tigers
The team during the field visit observed that there exists no proper protection mechanism inside the sanctuary like network of well connected Anti-Poaching Camps (APC) at strategic locations manned by Forest Guard/ Watchers round the clock and year, which is a very common feature of well managed PA (Protected Area)/Tiger Reserve.
“In the absence of any organized APC network and regular patrolling, It is highly possible that tigers, their prey base and other flora, fauna might be subjected to varying degrees of poaching pressure but there is no way to know unless a good protection and information network is put in place,” the report said.
Further, it said, unfortunately even after more than two decade of declaring Mhadei as Wildlife Sanctuary; it is managed on completely ad-hoc basis as there exists no management plan for such an important sanctuary of Western Ghat.
“It gives an impression that wildlife management appears to be a subject, which is of least priority for the Goa Forest Department,” it says.
The report further adds, as part of recently concluded All India Tiger Estimation (AITE)– 2018, the Goa Forest Department had carried out sign survey activities (phase I) in the month of May, 2018 and the summary report ‘Status of Tigers in India – 2018’ released last year by Prime Minister of India, puts the tiger population size of Goa at ‘3’ individuals.
“Considering the fact that only opportunistic camera trapping was done by the Forest Department inside the sanctuary without following a properly designed survey protocol, it is highly possible that the projected tiger population size of Goa may be an understatement,” it says.
According to Status of Tigers in India, 2014 report, Goa has a persistent tiger presence with a conservative estimate of 3-5 tigers but possess high potential to serve as home for breeding tigers. The said report recommended that the Protected Areas of Goa along with protected forests of Karnataka should be brought under Tiger Reserve network at the earliest for facilitating tiger recovery and for conserving the rich biodiversity of this biodiversity hot-spot which will also enhance the value of Western Ghats as a World Heritage Site
“The issue of declaring Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a ‘Tiger Reserve’ is a long pending one with central government initiating steps way back in the year 2012 by requesting the Goa state for submission of proposal,” it says.
The NTCA had recommended declaration of Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as Tiger Reserve:
“Declaring the sanctuary as Tiger Reserve will provide much needed access to technical, financial and monitoring support from NTCA for safeguarding the conservation values of the sanctuary. It will also empower the local communities residing inside the sanctuary by giving access to development opportunities as they will be able to utilize the voluntary resettlement scheme for joining the mainstream society,” it had said.