Kolkata: The residents of Deulbari village in Kultali, South 24-Parganas, heaved a sigh of relief after the Forest department, in the wee hours on Sunday, captured the tiger that had sneaked into the village.
Fear gripped the villagers after they spotted fresh pugmarks on Saturday morning. They immediately informed the Forest officials about it.
The Forest department, with the assistance of the police, started miking in the village, asking the villagers to be alert and at the same time, started a search operation for the tiger.
The tiger rescue team that had come from the Chituri forest range office became sanguine about the location of the tiger after some time in the bush. The entire area was then cordoned off to ensure that the tiger could not further enter the village and the common people stay safe. On Saturday evening, two trap cages were laid and a goat was used as bait. At around 3 am on Sunday morning, the tiger came out of its hideout, lured by the bait and was trapped in one of the cages.
The tiger was kept under the supervision of veterinary doctors and was found to be perfectly alright. It was also offered food.
Finally, at around 2.30 pm on Sunday, it was released at Chamta forest under the Sunderban Tiger Reserve area, quite far from the area where it was captured. “It is unusual for a tiger to enter human habitat during this time of the year.
The tiger may have swum in the wrong direction and mistakenly entered the human habitat,” said a senior officer of the South 24 Parganas forest division.