Tiger that sneaked into a village trapped in Gosaba's Bali Island

kolkata: The state Forest department successfully trapped the Royal Bengal Tiger that had sneaked into a village in Gosaba's Bali Island on Monday late night.

"We were able to confine the big cat in a reasonably small area before Tuesday evening and had laid two cages using goats as bait. The tiger was trapped early Wednesday morning at Mathurakhand area in Gosaba when it came out of its hideout enticed by the goat meat," Tapas Das, Field Director, Sunderban Tiger Reserve said.

The big cat has been examined by veterinary doctors and though there are apparently no injury marks in the body but it has grown old and is around 11 years of age.

"It is quite natural that the full grown tiger's hunting prowess will not be the same as other tigers because of its old age," Das said.

Debal Roy, State Chief Wildlife Warden, said the tiger was presently kept under observation at Jharkhali rescue centre. "It will take some more time to properly examine its health parameters and accordingly the decision of releasing it in the wild will be taken," Roy said.

A wild tiger survives 12-13 years on an average. The big cat had made the villagers apprehensive as it had suspectedly killed three goats and a cow which had remained untraced till late on Tuesday.

Sources said villagers of Mathurakhand were alerted to the presence of a tiger when they heard its roar late on Monday night. As day broke, villagers on Tuesday morning spotted the pugmark of the animal.A senior Forest department officials said they would soon begin work for restoring the nylon net over 106 km area that had been damaged and deliberately cut up by a section of villagers in their attempt to venture in the deep forest for catching crabs.