Lalgarh forest officials deploy drone to spot elusive tiger

Kolkata: A drone camera has been deployed in Lalgarh on Thursday following the Chief Minister's instruction to use drone for spotting the Royal Bengal tiger which is still eluding trap of Madhupur forest officials for more than 7 days.

The district forest officer along with the senior police officers acted promptly and deployed a drone which they believe may help them to trace the tiger. According to a forest department official, the drone that has been swung into action will be able to cover an area of 5 km deep into the forest.

As per the initial plans, the drone could be used at strategic locations where the tiger could be roaming free. Fresh pug marks were found in Madhupur forest on Thursday making the forest officials believe that it might be still hiding inside Madhupur forest. Tension spread among locals after pug marks were spotted near Muchiberia village which is less than 10 km away from Midnapore town.

Forest department officials are bringing tranquilizing experts as they would tranqualise the animal after the drone spots the area where the tiger might have been roaming free.

A pugmark was detected in Koyaguri forest area, a few kms away from West Midnapore.

According to the forest department sources, pug marks were found in the forest areas of Jhargram, West Midnapore and Bankura on Wednesday morning triggering panic among locals. Another pug mark was detected in the Laxmanpur forest in Jhargram.

The forest department officials are keeping an eye on Laxmanpur and Taldanga areas where the tiger might have gone to drink water.

Forest department officials are suspecting that there could be more than one tiger in the areas. The areas where the pugmarks have been found in Jhargram and West Midnapore are situated close to the villages as a result of which people are scared to step out of their houses. Children are not going to school.

Forest officials earlier said the Royal Bengal tiger, an adult male, which has been roaming in the area for the past fortnight, might have strayed from Odisha's Simlipal that is about 190 km away. But after thorough examination, the forest department officials suspect that it might not have come from Simlipal as the yellow black stripes of the tiger do not match with that of Simlipal.

On February 27, the department installed cameras after villagers complained of cattle vanishing in the area. The department placed four traps in different locations of Lalgarh.