JOIN USAfter wandering for more than two months in the riverine belt of Gandak basin, a tiger which strayed from the Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve (VTR) to Sonepur on December 2 returned home on Friday.
Confirming this, Chief Wild Life Warden D K Shukla said the tiger was found to have entered Kesaria (Champaran) region a couple of days back. “Now, it has crossed Motihari and was seen moving towards VTR,” Shukla told Deccan Herald here on Friday.
The tiger is said to have accidentally strayed into the Champaran forest reserve area. When the villagers in Sonepur saw the tiger they panicked and informed the forest department officials and the whole area was cordoned off before officials got into action.
Eventually, Saran division District Forest Officer (DFO) K Ganesh Kumar fired the first round of tranquiliser at the tiger. But even before the dart could hit the target the tiger pounced on him and injured his hands and chest badly.
The officer, from Tamil Nadu, fell unconscious and had to be rushed to a local hospital before being flown to Chennai.
The tiger after injuring the DFO managed to escape into the bushy tracts even though it was surrounded from all sides. It is believed that the animal had sneaked into Sonepur area (200 km away from VTR) by crossing the dry basin of the Gandak river which is connected to Champaran reserve in the north.
Later, forest and police officials jointly monitored the movement of the big cat through its pug marks. The tiger killed scores of neelgai (antelope) while retreating through the banks of Gandak.
Strangely, for nearly two months, crime graph showed sharp decline in the riverine belt across the Gandak. No incident of loot or dacoity was reported from the area where the tiger was said to be taking rest behind the vast track of grassland.