The presence of a tiger in a Sundarbans village created panic among villagers with forest officials setting up cages to trap the big cat. Officials said villagers had spotted the tiger in Kultali village in South 24 Parganas in the last four days.
A man, identified as Motaleb Molla, was injured on Sunday morning while he and other villagers were leading a forest team to a place where the fully-grown tiger was supposed to be hiding, said a forest official. It is not clear if he was attacked by the tiger or injured in the commotion.
Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mallick told reporters that a full-grown Royal Bengal tiger was first sighted by villagers inside the thick bushes near a river on Friday.
“We have fenced off the entire area on the side of river Piyali separating the bushes from human habitation and putting up cages with goats inside them as baits. We would advise the villagers to have patience and not rush to the spot. We are hopeful of trapping the tiger soon”, the minister said.
The tiger was first spotted by Champa Naskar, a fisherman at Sheikhpara area in the village.
Villagers showed pugmarks of a tiger to the team and said they had heard its roars from the banks of a river.
