In a statement to the media here on Friday, Chief Wildlife Warden Sandeep Tripathy said it was still not clear whether a leopard or a Royal Bengal tiger had been spotted inside Karlapat forest range.
The Forest officials had earlier found pug marks of Royal Bengal tiger in Hemagiri forest of Sundargarh, Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Hirakud forest range in Sambalpur district and Munigada forest range in Rayagada district, he said.
Tripathy also informed that the forest area in the state has increased to 855 sq km this year.
As informed by the Forest and Environment minister Bijayshree Routray, there are around 60 Royal Bengal tigers in Odisha. However, they were not earlier sighted in Hemagiri, Debrigarh and Muniguda forest range. Tiger being found in Muniguda of Rayagada district is definitely a good news, he had told the media recently.
He also said that the Forest department has been instructed to take steps to ensure the safety of the tigers and maintain their habitation.
The Forest department has recently released a Royal Bengal tiger from Kanha National Park and a Royal Bengal tigress from the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh in the Satkosia Sanctuary in Angul district to raise their population.
Prior to their release, there were two female Royal Bengal tigresses in the reserve.
The Centre and the state government had earlier crossed swords over the numbers of tigers in Odisha. Citing a 2016 report, the Centre had said that the state had 28 Royal Bengal tigers, while the Odisha government claimed to be home to 40 Royal Bengal tigers and 318 leopards.
The tiger census report of the state government had also rejected the report of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which had put the number of big cats at 28.
Notably, the counting was done only in Shimilipal and Satkosia Tiger Reserves.
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