Kolkata: The residents of Bhubaneshwari Gaur Chowk under Maipith Coastal Police Station in Kultali heaved a sigh of relief with the forest staff, after hard toil for two consecutive days and nights, succeeded in driving back the strayed tiger to the forest.
“Around 9.50 am on Monday, we were successful in driving away the strayed tiger into the forest. The entire operation was led by ADFO Anurag Chaudhury ,” said Milan Mandal, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of South 24-Parganas Forest Division.
Lights, bombs and sticks were used to frighten and chase the big cat which swam across the Makri River and crossed over to Ajmalmari Forest area. Mondal said that as soon as the news of spotting pugmarks was received from the villagers, a team from the forest division was immediately sent to the spot. The area was cordoned by using nylon net fencing.
“On Sunday, we laid a cage along with bait to trap the tiger but the animal remained elusive. On Monday morning, additional force was deployed for the operation which yielded fruitful results,” a senior official of the Forest department said.
It is learnt that the tiger, during the driving operation, once retaliated and chased some of the forest staff. One of them had to even climb up a tree.
It was on Friday late night when the tiger had sneaked into Gaur Chawk area in Bhubaneshwari Village, spreading fear among the villagers.
However, residents of Upendranagar in Patharpratima spotted pugmarks on the river bank. The forest officials confirmed that these are old ones and that the tiger had retreated to the forest.