While a tiger census in the Kuldiha sanctuary in Baleswar district is underway, wildlife officials have found evidence regarding the presence of three big cats after they found three different footprints in the sanctuary.
Forest Range Officer Ananta Kumar Jena said these footprints would be verified. He assumed the footprints to be of three different leopards and said experts would arrive at a conclusion in this regard.
“The footprints were traced near Bholapokahari, Tutapokhari and Sarvana inside the sanctuary. However, they would be analysed by experts to ascertain the big cats’ number,” said Jena, adding that the footprints were collected by the PIPs (pug impression pads) that were placed in the sanctuary for tiger headcount.
The headcount exercise had started on November 26 and will end on December 3. As many as 14 teams have been conducting the census of tigers in 14 beats of the sanctuary. Besides trap cameras, 120 PIPs have been positioned to keep track of the presence of leopards and tigers in this Reserve Forest.
