Three tigers enter villages near Sundarban in 48 hours

CANNING (WB): Barely 48 hours after two big cats entered two villages near the Sundarbans, another tigress showed up in a village in South 24 Parganas district before being trapped by wildlife officials on Friday.

The tigress, pug marks of which were found by local people yesterday near Lahiripara village was trapped in the wee hours as she walked into a cage with a bait laid by the Tiger Reserve personnel.

The animal was tranquilized and a microchip implanted on its tail to keep track of its movements after its release. "The tigress is now asleep and a tag is also being fixed in one of its ears," a senior wildlife officer said.

Panic had spread in two other villages on the fringes of the Sunderbans last Tuesday when a tigress entered Kumirmari village and attacked a cow and a goat.

The villagers raised a hue and cry after which it disappeared into the nearby bushes. But it was subsequently trapped by the wildlife officials.

The tigress was also tranquilized and a microchip and a tag were fixed on it. She would be released in the Sunderbans after regaining consciousness, the officer said.

Pug marks of another tiger were also found on Tuesday near Rajatjubilee village, a few km away from Kumirmari but it could not be located, the official said.