Sunderbans tiger that strayed into village returns to old habitat

Kolkata: The Royal Bengal Tiger, which had strayed into a nearby village from the core Sunderbans Tiger Reserve in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, returned to its old habitat on Wednesday morning after keeping forest guards on their toes for two days.

Sundarban Biosphere Reserve director Nilanjan Mallick told PTI, "The full-grown big cat, which was camping in the mangrove belt at Maipith in Kultali block since Monday, returned to its old place at Ajmalmari within the core zone of the reserve."

"The tiger, which had reached the Baikunthapur forested stretch of Maipith by swimming across the creek, followed the old route to head back to Ajmalmari on Wednesday and we are relieved," he said.

To prevent the tiger from reaching adjacent villages with sizeable populations, state forest personnel had fenced with a nylon net an area of over 1.5 km. A team of around 100 forest personnel and locals used flaming torches and burst crackers after dusk to push it back towards the core zone for the past two days.

"We are focusing on steps to prevent man-animal conflict. We have to ensure there is no threat to cattle and livestock as much as possible," Mallick said.