123 Kolkata: A tiger that entered Nagenabad village in the South 24 Parganas division of the Sundarbans on Sunday evening has attacked and wounded a forest worker on Monday morning when a team was installing nylon nets to isolate the village from the adjacent forest where the big cat was hiding.
Ganesh Shyamal (30), who sustained injuries on his hands and head, was rushed to SSKM for treatment after preliminary care at a local hospital.
While foresters indicated the surge in tiger numbers is presumably compelling the sub-adults to venture into human settlements, experts suggest the nylon net fencing along 80 km stretch in this zone might require maintenance-replacement in certain areas.
In recent years, such cases have been reported in Moipith-Baikunthapur panchayat under Kultali block.
The tiger was initially sighted near Mular jetty at Nagenabad 9 on Sunday evening. Forest staff from Nalgorah beat and local cops hastened to the location. "The area was encompassed by nylon nets on three sides, keeping the part towards forest accessible so that it could return. On Monday morning, upon learning about a location where the big cat was hiding, we went there with a quick response team to deploy nets. Shyamal, a support worker from Moipith, was attacked by the tiger," said DFO Nisha Goswami, adding that he is stable now. The tiger later hid in a bitter gourd field. "We are implementing all steps to ensure safety of villagers and the tiger. Two trap cages have been positioned," said Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve director Nilanjan Mullick.
Anurag Danda, Sundarbans chapter head at WWF-India, said: "We are developing an AI-based software that will help us decode individual tigers from their stripe patterns. Then, we will ascertain if any straying tigers were clicked in the forest. This will aid our probe into reasons behind their forest departure," he said. Ex-chief wildlife warden Pradeep Vyas attributed disturbances in buffer zone to rise in cases. "Number of boat licence certificates in divisional forest is higher than that in tiger reserve area. Greater disturbance results in more damage to net fencing, through which the tigers enter," he added.