Tiger strays into Kultali area again, villager injured

Kolkata: A person was injured in a tiger attack on Sunday morning at Dongajara- Misrachawk area under Kultali police station area in South 24-Parganas.

The villagers alongwith forest department personnel were searching for the animal inside the thick bushes when the incident took place.

"The person received leg injuries and was being treated at a local health centre. If necessary, he will be taken to a hospital in Kolkata," a senior Forest official said. The victim had suffered severe blood loss, but is conscious and stable.

The Forest officials suspect that the attack was the handiwork of the big cat that had entered into a locality at Maipith. A trap was laid to capture the tiger but the animal shifted to another location.

On Saturday morning the roar of a tiger was heard by a section of people who were engaged in a picnic at Kella area. On early Sunday morning, the tiger's roar was again heard in Dongajara- Mishrachowk area following which some villagers along with a team from the Forest department tried to trace the tiger.

State Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mallick said that a full-grown Royal Bengal Tiger was first sighted by the villagers inside the thick bushes near a river at Garankathi hamlet of Kultali on Friday. Pugmarks were also found in the area. The local people claimed to have heard the roar of the big cat in a number of locations since Friday. The entire area on the side of river Piyali separating the bushes from human habitation has been fenced and cages have been put up with goats inside them as baits.

"The villagers should be patient and should not suffer from fear as our officials have fenced off the area and all measures have been taken for the villagers' safety," Mallick said.

On December 7, a Royal Bengal Tiger had strayed into a village in another pocket of the Kultali area of Sunderbans.

It was captured using a goat in a trap cage, and then released in the Sunderbans a day later.