INDORE:
Indore region is once again abuzz with speculation about presence of a
tiger in Choral forest range. Forest department officials are still in
search of evidence to confirm the presence of the wild cat in the
region.
For the past one week, villagers of Choral forest range
have been claiming of presence of the tiger in the region. Two days
back, one villager in Mhow area was injured while few goats have been
reportedly killed by the wild animal. Villagers claim that it is a
tiger, but forest officials maintain that it could be a leopard.
A team of tiger strike force has been sent to comb the area and create awareness among villagers about tiger. DFO Saeed Khan
said that a few pug marks and scratch on trees have been found but
maintained that it was difficult to say weather it was a tiger or a
leopard. "Pugmarks of tiger are of minimum 10 inch and the pugmark found
in the locality is of around 7 inch," said Khan adding that normally
villagers can not differentiate between leopard, panther and a tiger.
Khan said that officials have recently found pugmarks in Beedia
village. Now search parties have been dispatched in the area and vigil
has been increased in Mhow, Manpur and Choral range to find trace the
wild cats if there is any.
Similar rumours about presence of
tiger in Choral in February 2012 had kept forest official on their toes
for months. Pug marks, scratch on trees and incidents of killing of
animals of villagers were reported then as well, but a tiger could not
be spotted.
Tigers have disappeared from Indore region three
decades back. In last 30 years, no traces of the wild cats have been
found. However, in its recent report, Wildlife Institute India ( WII) has said that forests in Indore range are rich enough to host few tigers.
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