Lalgarh tiger still eluding trap, herd of elephants add to panic

Kolkata: Four days have passed since a full-grown tiger was spotted at Madhupur village in Lalgarh, the forest department officials are yet to capture the animal despite setting up two cage traps inside the forest.

Meanwhile, a fresh pugmark was detected by the forest department near a waterbody, few meters away from the place on Monday morning where a cage had been set up. This makes the forest department officials believe that the tiger might have roamed over the place. The forest department officials are bringing two more cages from the Sunderbans which may be installed in different locations inside the forest. Two cages have been already been set up at two different locations within a distance of around 1 km in Madhupur forest.

The forest department officials are investigating the possibility of more than one tiger roaming around in Lalgarh forest. The incident has triggered tension among the locals many of whom have confined themselves inside their houses. Jhargram district administration and forest department officials are yet to see any success as the animal remained elusive till late Monday evening.

Photographs taken by camera traps on Friday showed a tiger roaming around Lalgarh forest. The area had no previous record of tiger sightings. It may be mentioned here that a herd of elephants that entered the forest on Sunday morning complicated the situation. The forest officials suspect that the tiger might have taken refuge in some other portion as the elephants have now intruded the area. A herd of around 18 elephants has been roaming around the area where cages have been set up to catch the tiger. The elephants also damaged some of the cameras that were put up on tree trunks.

A senior forest department official said: "We are bringing two more cages which would be placed in strategic locations on Tuesday. We are keeping a close eye on the situation

which has become complicated as a herd of elephants from Dalma forest has entered Lalgarh on Saturday night," the official said.