Tigress enters home to escape cyclone fury

Gosaba (WB): A family in a village near the Sundarbans, terrified by the ferocity of cyclone Aila, had a bigger shock awaiting them on Monday when they found a full grown tigress crouching in their home.

Pintu Mirdha and his family members in Jamespur village under Gosaba police station in South 24 Pargana district were trapped in their home encircled by flood waters as the cyclone raged outside.

As the water level rose, Pintu was petrified to find the predator in one of the rooms.

Mirdha managed to lock the room from outside and raised an alarm, Subrat Mukherjee, Field Director of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve said.

The Bidya river nearby, which had been rising steadily as the cyclone approached, had breached an embankment and flooded a part of the reserve, which has the world's largest mangrove forest, forcing the wildlife to seek safer places.

The tigress might have entered the house in search of safety and did not harm anyone of the five-member family, Mukherjee said adding she might have strayed from the nearby Pirkhali forest.

Forest officials rescued the family and then organized to tranquilize the tigress yesterday. It was put in a cage and later released in the forest, he said.