Goa wildlife census has indicated the presence of tigers, at least in four places in the coastal State confirming claims of environmentalists that the tourist destination is a home to the big cat.
According to State Forest Department officials tiger pug marks and scat were found in two wildlife sanctuaries, a corridor of Sahyadri mountain ranges running through States of Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
A senior Forest Department officer confirmed indirect evidences of the wild cat at Mhadei and Mollem National Park.
The census was held from April 27-May 4 across all the wildlife sanctuaries and government-owned reserve forests.
Forest Department officials and volunteers engaged in week-long wildlife census have found tiger scat at Surla and Nandran localities in Mollem National Park, 80 kms from here.
Nandran was a human habitation of 14 houses within the sanctuary, which was rehabilitated by offering alternate dwellings and land plots by the State Forest Department.
The tiger pug marks were also found in two places at the catchment area of Anjunem dam, an irrigational facility constructed on Goa-Karnataka border.
The census has recorded pug marks of a tiger and cubs in the area, which was also earlier inhabited by humans.
Three villages were shifted from the catchment area during construction of this dam in North-East Goa in 80s.
