This story is from January 7, 2021

Gujarat: Mahisagar villagers claim tiger sighting again

The string of tiger ‘sightings’ that never got confirmed in Mahisagar district continued with residents of a village claiming with conviction to have spotted one.
Gujarat: Mahisagar villagers claim tiger sighting again
Pug marks, supposedly of a tiger that was sighted by villagers
VADODARA: The string of tiger ‘sightings’ that never got confirmed in Mahisagar district continued with residents of a village claiming with conviction to have spotted one.
Villagers of Jethola in Khanpur taluka claimed that the tiger was trying to attack a cow when they spotted it. The incident reportedly took place on Tuesday night even as the forest department has not found any evidence confirming the presence of a tiger there and believe that it might actually be a leopard.
Earlier too, villagers have claimed that they had seen a tiger, but only the presence of a leopard could be confirmed.
Jethola resident Kanaka Damor told reporters that they had seen a tiger. He added that they had requested the forest department to look into the matter. Villagers also preserved the pug marks by fencing them with thorny bushes and encircling them so that forest officials can study them. A team visited the village for investigation and are keeping a close watch.
However, range forest officer, RV Waghela said no pug marks were seen at the spot where villagers claimed that a cow was killed. “The injury to the cow is minor,” said RV Waghela.
“Prima facie they appear to be pug marks of a sub-adult tiger, probably male. We do know the adjoining Indore-Dewas landscape holds a small tiger population, and this could be a sub-adult nomad. I am sure the forest department will conduct a thorough analysis and only after their confirmation can there be sure shot clarity,” said Priyvrat Gadhvi, member of the State Wildlife Board.
Another senior official pointed out that if a tiger had been lurking in the area big animals like cattle or nilgai would have been killed, but that has not been the case. He added that a tiger would have had to cover a long area to reach Mahisagar from any neighbouring state where it stays. “It is unlikely that it would go unnoticed while traversing such a long distance,” he said.
In February 2019, a tiger was spotted in the jungles of Sant Matro in Mahisagar district. It was a sense of déjà vu for many who had been saying since decades that they had seen tigers in the area, but were snubbed.
The tiger was later found dead and it is believed that this happened due to starvation. It had come to Mahisagar from Ratapani forests in Madhya Pradesh covering a distance of around 300km.
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