Video of ‘tiger’ goes viral, forest officials say it’s a leopard

Vadodara: A viral video of a big cat on the edge of a jungle said to be that of a tiger kept the forest officials in the Mahisagar district on their toes. The location where the video was recorded on Monday evening is very close to the place where a tiger was spotted.
The video was recorded by a village sarpanch near the Ghatawada village of Kadana taluka. The area is the same where a tiger was clicked by a school teacher and the sighting was eventually confirmed using pugmarks as well as cameras in February last year. The tiger was then found dead in May, with starvation believed to be the reason.
The video was forwarded to deputy superintendent of police N V Patel amongst others. Patel sent it to the forest department. “A person known to me spotted the animal and claimed it was a tiger. The forest department can ascertain what the animal is,” he said.
The forest department rushed its personnel to the place where the big cat was spotted. They believe that the big cat was not a tiger, but a leopard from a mating pair that had been spotted in the area. “It may have been spotted from the roan nearby and the video was made viral. Our staff rushed to the site to ascertain what the animal was,” said deputy conservator of forests R D Jadeja.
It is not the first time that such videos have led to rumours in the area. In May too, a similar incident had taken place and the presence of a tiger was eventually ruled out. However, several residents of Mahisagar district believe since several years now that tigers exist in the jungles there.