Leopard not tiger cub left pugmarks in Signali village

Vadodara: The exercise by the forest department to ascertain if tiger cubs were indeed moving around in the area where the dead tiger was found earlier in Mahisagar district has only led the department to a leopard. The exercise was taken up after a farmer insisted that the department should verify if the pugmarks in the farm.
While the forest department had prima facie said that it was unlikely that the pugmarks spotted in the farm in Signali village were of a tiger cub, the farmer and others insisted that proper verification should be done before reaching to a conclusion. Trap cameras were installed in the area where the pugmarks were spotted and personnel of the department were asked to increase vigil in the area.

Sources in the forest department said that on Saturday night, the cameras captured a leopard cub in the same area. They added that the claims of sighting of a tiger at other locations have also not led to anything fruitful so far.

The forest department has not removed the trap cameras installed in the area where the dead tiger was moving. But so far the dead tiger has been the only one that was captured by the cameras amidst claims by villagers that there was an entire tiger family with cubs in the area.