A tiger from the Sunderbans that was hiding in a small but dense patch of mangroves between a creek and a village has returned to the forest, officials said on Saturday.
The tiger, which had crossed a few small creeks and reached the mangroves near Kishorimohanpur village in South 24-Parganas, had kept forest officials on high alert and the villagers in terror for two days.
The villagers first spotted its pugmarks on Monday morning in a patch of mangroves near the Kultali block. Forest officials identified the animal as having strayed from the Ajmalmari forest, located on the opposite side of a creek.
“The tiger crossed the small creeks and reached the human habitation area. In that area, there are bandhs (fencing or locking) under which there are mangrove forests where he took shelter,” Nisha Goswami, divisional forest officer of South 24-Parganas told The Telegraph Online
The Telegraph Online sources
“We created disturbances to trigger him to take shelter in the main forest. We did this yesterday [Tuesday] as well. Finally, this morning, he left that area and came back to the main forest,” Goswami added.
The forest department is now focusing on preventive measures to ensure such incidents are minimised in the future.
“We are happy that the tiger returned to the forest, but when cases like these happen, where the tiger reaches human habitat, it is also a lot of work, and it increases our responsibility,” Goswami said.
“We have to take care of two things in such cases: that no harm happens to the animal and that human life or livestock is not damaged. It involves minute, careful monitoring. Now that he is back in the main forest, we are working on strategic planning. We are planning to increase patrolling at night in certain areas to prevent such incidents in the future.”
A team of over 70 forest guards worked to track and guide the tiger back to its habitat.
Sailen Halder, a resident of Baikunthapur, had earlier told The Telegraph: “There is a lot of panic here. The police and forest guards are shouting through hailers, asking people not to step out after sundown.”
On Monday, the forest staff fenced a kilometre of the mangrove patch to restrict the tiger’s movement. By Tuesday, another 600 metres near Baikunthapur village were fenced.