4 min readPanajiMay 2, 2026 09:44 PM IST
A tiger was found dead in the forests in Goa’s Dharbandora on Saturday, prompting the forest department to launch a combing operation and initiate a probe.
The decomposed carcass was found near Aaglot village. Forest department officials said a preliminary probe suggests the death is likely to have been caused by natural causes.
“The carcass is in a decomposed state. We have informed the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), and as per their advice, we will conduct all formalities,” an official of the forest department, requesting anonymity, said.
“Prima facie, there is no suspicion of foul play. The age of the tiger is not evident from the carcass, as it is in a highly decomposed state and remains were found at three different locations. Further details will be known after the forensic report,” he said.
On the carcass missing teeth and nails, and concerns regarding poaching, the official said, “We cannot say they are missing. Since the carcass is decomposed, naturally the teeth will come out, or scavengers could have fed on it.”
Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar said that while the government has repeatedly claimed that Goa does not have a ‘resident’ tiger population, this is the sixth death of a tiger in Goa since 2009. “The area where the carcass was found is part of a privately owned forest that falls outside the jurisdiction of Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park,” he said.
The incident is likely to bolster the demand for declaring a tiger reserve in the state. In the past, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has made multiple recommendations to the state to declare Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and certain other contiguous areas as a tiger reserve.
Story continues below this ad
In January 2020, a tigress and its three cubs were found dead in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, with a subsequent investigation finding that the forest dwellers had poisoned the tigers as revenge for killing their cattle. An NTCA expert team constituted to inquire into the deaths recommended declaring the area a tiger reserve, saying that without doing so, the state may “become a death trap for tigers dispersing in this landscape.”
In the aftermath of the killing of the four tigers, a public interest litigation was filed by the environmental NGO, Goa Foundation, seeking directions to notify Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and other areas as a tiger reserve. In July 2023, the High Court of Bombay at Goa directed the Goa government to notify a tiger reserve in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and other protected areas within three months. Subsequently, the Goa government filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s order. The Supreme Court ordered a status quo in the Mhadei-Cotigao area and referred the matter to a Central Empowered Committee in September, seeking a report within six weeks.
The CEC in November 2025 recommended that a tiger reserve be notified in Goa.
The Goa government dismissed the contents of the CEC report as “vague”, arguing that the panel’s observations “suffer from inherent contradictions” and lacked scientific, legal and ecological justification.
Story continues below this ad
In its submissions before the CEC earlier this year, the government reiterated its stance that “lack of resident tigers” and “the mere presence of a few transient tigers passing through the area” does not necessitate declaring the area as a tiger reserve, “when the protections afforded to such an area are in itself sufficient towards ensuring adequate safeguards to the transit of tigers and other animals.”
The government said that any proposal for notifying an area as a tiger reserve must be predicated upon the presence of breeding or resident tigers in the concerned area. “However, a bare perusal of the report reveals that the CEC completely failed to undertake any meaningful exercise to ascertain the presence of tiger population (whether permanent or transient) in the Cotigao-Mhadei forest complex,” it said. The government said that the CEC report “affirms that the resident tigers of Kali Tiger Reserve are mere transient to the protected areas in the state of Goa and do not reside therein or use the said areas for breeding activities and that the protected areas in Goa are already duly protected in a proper scientific manner to ensure complete protection of all existing species including tigers…”
