January 1, 2009

Buddhadeb seeks report on straying of tigers in Sunderbans


Kolkata, Dec 30: Concerned over tigers frequently entering villages in the Sunderbans, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has sought a report on whether it was because of insufficient food or a behavioural change.Bhattacharjee, who chaired a meeting of the Sunderbans Development Board (SBR) yesterday sought to know whether there was scarcity of deer and boars in the Sunderbans which was leading tigers to enter villages or whether there was a behavioural change among the big cats, Sunderbans Development Minister Kanti Ganguly told mediapersons here.Bhattacharjee asked the SBR director to submit a report on why tigers frequently strayed into villages, Ganguly said.To a question, Ganguly said primarily it was stated that insufficient number of deer and boars might be one of the reasons but experts were asked to ascertain the actual reasons.He said never before in the past had tigers strayed so many times into villages as this year.An eco-friendly tourism plan for Sunderbans was also necessary so that the tourists do not disturb tigers, he said.Royal Bengal tigers in the Sunderbans have strayed into villages at least 10 times including one at Katamari in Kultali on December 28 and another at Gosaba today.
Royal Bengal tiger caught in the Sunderbans

Canning, West Bengal : An aging male Royal Bengal Tiger which entered Annpur village in search of food at Gosaba in the Sundarbans has been caged by the forest department personnel.
The tiger swam across a small river from Pirkhali forest and entered the village where it killed a dog," Divisional Reserve Forest, Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, Subrata Mukherjee said on Tuesday.
"Since the tiger killed a dog we realised it was too old to hunt and was in search of food," he said.
A trap was laid and the tiger was caught last night, he said.
The tiger was being taken taken to Sudhanyakhali jungle for observation. It would be released, but if it was found that it was too old to hunt, it would be transferred to the Alipore zoo in Kolkata, Mukherjee said.
Another tiger caught on Sunday at Kultali was sedated and under observation at Ajmalmari since it had an injury.

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