Bengal: Another tiger strays into village, captured after hours

Kolkata: After eluding hordes of forest personnel for hours, a full-grown Royal Bengal Tiger was captured from a village in Kumirmari area of Sundarbans on Saturday night.

Forest Minister Jyotipriyo Mallick told PTI that the male tiger could be tamed at around 11:15 pm after two tranquiliser darts hit the animal.

"The tiger entered the area in the morning and played hide and seek with scores of forest personnel. We put up fencing nets and installed big cages with goats as bait but those did not work," he said.

Later, the animal was located and tranquilised, the minister said.

Mallick said the tiger will be examined by vets and released in the jungle if everything is okay in another two days.

The animal would be taken to the Alipore Zoo if it is found that its hunting power has reduced, he said.

It is their mating season and the big cats are swimming across creeks and rivers in search of a partner, he said.

In December, two tigers had strayed into the nearby localities in different parts of Kultali. While one of them was caught after 10 hours on the same day, the other tiger could be captured after six days.

None of these tigers harmed any human or other animals in villages they had strayed into, the minister said.