Several groups of Christmas picnickers had to be evacuated from the banks of the interconnected Piyali and Matla rivers at Kultali in South 24-Parganas on Saturday morning after they claimed to have heard the roars of a tiger.

Around 10am, panicky tourists huddled on the river bank and numerous boat rides had to be halted when the roars of what sounded like a royal Bengal tiger were heard in the vicinity.

Forest department officials cordoned off the area on receiving reports about the presence of a tiger in the area and began a search.

Local sources said a tiger had strayed into Gopalganj area of Kultali on Thursday.

“Fishermen spotted pugmarks on the banks of the Matla (the Piyali flows into the Matla). Two women, fishing for crabs, also noticed the animal but the tiger still remains untraced,” said a local.

As of early Saturday evening, foresters had not been able to trace the tiger.

Sources said the tiger might have sneaked into the Nos 5 Garankathi area of Kultali on Friday.

“We tried to lay a trap using a goat. But the tiger appears to have moved into the adjacent riverbank, which came to light when villagers spotted more pugmarks,” said a forester.

On Saturday morning, forest officials alerted residents of Dongajora-Kella area about the possibility of a tiger in the vicinity, which was confirmed soon when tourists sailing on the river heard roars.

A forest official explained that they had discouraged the tourists right at the start.

“We had told the tourists not to visit the area and to move elsewhere for their picnic. The villagers also made them a similar appeal. But most of the picnic groups paid little heed to our appeal till some groups sailing on boats first heard the roars of the tiger,” the forester said.

As soon as the roars were heard, tourists panicked. Forest officials acted promptly to prevent the chaos from escalating and evacuated the picnic spot.
Ashim Samanta, a member of one of the picnic teams that heard the roars, said they had not imagined their much-anticipated Christmas picnic would take such a turn.

“We were visiting this spot after a gap of about two years owing to the pandemic. But we were compelled to return. We were going to a spot on the Matla river when we heard the distinct roars of a tiger,” Samanta said.

Senior forest officials of the Baruipur range, led by additional divisional forest officer Anurag Choudhury, monitored the development s in coordination with villagers.
“We have arranged a nightlong surveillance in the area and are hopeful of trapping the tiger soon,” said a senior official. “We think the tiger has taken shelter inside the dense bushes at a delta near the riverbank because of the presence of a large number of tourists. We are hopeful it will come out soon when things quieten down,” he added.