Kultali: A forest department staff was attacked and dragged by the big cat he was trying to capture in Maipith under the Kultali Block of West Bengal's South 24 Paraganas district. The man-animal battle continued for long before he was rescued by his colleagues who used sticks to stop the wild beast. The staffer, Ganesh Shyamal, sustained grievous injury.
"A tiger jumped on a forest department staff after being chased by a team. The tiger bit the man in the neck and was dragging him to the forest before other staff scared it away," Bhagirath Mandal, a resident, said in a trembling voice.
Several pugmarks were spotted on Sunday night in the Maipith-Baikunthapur Panchayat under Kultali Block, in an eerie return of the tiger scare.
After being informed, the staffers of the Nalgora Beat Office under Raidighi Forest Range started searching for the big cat on Monday morning, little did they know that their target was lurking behind.
The Royal Bengal tiger suddenly sprang from the paddy field on a worker and dragged him to the forest, leaving everyone stunned. In a bid to bring their colleague from its jaw, they started beating the tiger with sticks, which left the prey and vanished in the wild. The Maipith Coastal police station has also been updated about the matter.
To prevent the tiger from entering the village, locals fixed a net at the jetty near Nagenbad No. 9 Mula. Though it prevented the beast, its presence near the net was known by all and sundry. A plan was hatched to cage it and members of the local tiger team were on it when the untoward incident happened.
"On Sunday, the forest department received the news of a tiger entering a locality in Kultali. The workers reached the spot to scare the best away. In the process, the tiger attacked a staff who had been rescued and taken to the hospital," Nisha Goswami, DFO (South 24 Paraganas South), said.
"There have been repeated incidents of tigers straying into the locality. It has been 10-12 times. Another tiger has entered yesterday night (Sunday). I think it could not return to the wild and has attacked one forest staff. We are panicking and want the whole area to be netted," Madhusudan Nandi, a villager, said.
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