A fishing cat was found dead in Hooghly’s Konnagar on Monday evening. Forest officials suspect residents killed it thinking that it was a tiger.

Some witnesses have apparently told the officers that men armed with sticks and bamboo shafts attacked the animal.

The fishing cat is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, which means it faces a high threat of extinction.

On Monday morning, footage of a CCTV camera installed on a building in Konnnagar showed an animal walking past a truck. It triggered a scare with residents thinking that the animal was a tiger. As word spread, several residents even claimed to have heard the roar of a tiger.

A forest official said the animal caught on camera was a fishing cat.