Villagers in the Chandil sub-division of Seraikela-Kharsawan district in Jharkhand are in the grip of panic as the news of an “elusive” tiger prowling the villages continues for the fifth day.

However, forest officials are still clueless about the origin of the “adult tiger” which has been noticed by a village boy and has killed a bull and left pug marks along the Subernarekha river in the Chandil region.

Chandil forest ranger, Shashi Prakash Ranjan, said that based on the pugmarks and teeth marks they can confirm it as an adult tiger.

“The pugmarks along the river bank, the teeth marks and distance of feline teeth based on the mark left on the bull, we can say that it is an adult tiger. However, we are yet to see the picture of the elusive tiger on camera,” said Ranjan.

Jamshedpur divisional forest officer, Saba Alam Ansari, who also holds the additional charge of Seraikela-Kharsawan division, said it was difficult to ascertain the origin of the tiger and everything reported is pure speculation.

“The pugmark size varies depending on the soil texture. So far only a shepherd boy has seen and identified it as a Bengal Tiger after being shown photographs. We have installed six trap cameras to capture pictures of the feline to ascertain whether it is a tiger or a tigress as it is essential to look at its stripes. We do not know yet where the feline came from as it does not have a GPS collar attached to it,”
said Ansari.

He also informed that a team has been formed.

Sources in the forest department said an expert has been brought from Kiriburu in Saranda forest.

Sources in the forest department said there are chances that the tiger might have come from the neighbouring Khunti or Latehar forests.

Officials also claimed that the forest patch where the tiger has been wandering is nestled between Lakhansingh hills and Jaida Shiv temple in Chandil, which is 4km from the Chowka-Chandil intersection on NH-33, which connects Ranchi and Jamshedpur to Calcutta and that residents of over seven villages have been alerted to stay indoors after dusk.

A 12-year-old boy, Sumit Mahato, an eyewitness to the incident, said that he witnessed the entire incident of the tiger killing the bull by climbing a tree. Sumit is in shock after
the incident.

The forest department has left the bull at the same place. The department believes that when the tiger is hungry, it will come to eat it and the plan to identify and catch it can be executed.

The forest department has launched a vigilance campaign in Tulgram and surrounding villages. Villagers are being appealed to not go to the forests and to be vigilant by making announcements from promotional vehicles.