Tiger spotted in Bengal's Lalgarh forest

Kolkata, March 2 (IANS) A Royal Bengal tiger was caught on a camera trap in Lalgarh forest in Bengal's West Midnapore district, a forest official said on Friday.

"Following reports of catte kills from surrounding villages, we installed seven cameras in Lalgarh forest, a former Maoist area. We got a report this morning that a fully grown Royal Bengal tiger was captured by one of the cameras," said an officer of Midnapore Division Forest Office.

"We found pug marks and suspected the tiger's presence after inspecting a killed cattle," he said, adding that earlier there was no report of the presence of the big cat in that forest.

Efforts would be made to capture the tiger and send it to Sundarbans, he said.

Responding to a query as to how the tiger could have come to the forest, the official said: "It is difficult to say. We are exploring all possibilities."

It was expected that the tiger might have sneaked into the forest from Simlipal reserve in neighbouring Odisha.