A forest department employee was seriously injured on Monday after being attacked by a Royal Bengal Tiger at Maipith in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, senior forest official told PTI.
The employee was part of a forest team tracking the movement of the tiger, which strayed from the Ajmalmari forest in the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve into Maipith’s Nagenbad village, an area covered with dense shrubs.
The tiger suddenly emerged from the forest and pounced on the forest worker in an adjacent open farmland. His colleagues managed to drive the animal away by hitting it with sticks, the official said.
The injured worker, Ganesh Shyamal, sustained multiple bite injuries on his body. He was first taken to Jamtala hospital, then shifted to Baruipur Hospital, and finally referred to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata.
In a video shared on X, which HT cannot independently verify, the tiger can be seen attacking the worker. He managed to escape from the clutches of the big cat after intervention from his colleagues.
Divisional Forest Officer statement
Divisional forest officer (DFO) Nisha Goswami told PTI, “The injured personnel has multiple bites and gashes on his body. His condition is serious but stable.”
The forest department has fenced off the area with nylon nets and alerted villagers to keep their cattle indoors.
“No other person has been injured. We are taking all steps to prevent man-animal conflict,” Goswami added.
According to the official, the department’s priority is to push the animal back into its habitat, and if that fails, capture it using a baited cage.
Explaining how the tiger arrived, Goswami said it likely swam across the river separating the reserve forest and Maipith and was trying to establish new territory.
According to the PTI report, a tiger had previously strayed into this belt three times in January but was safely driven back to the Sunderbans without causing harm. It remains unclear if the same tiger is returning repeatedly.