Injured Sundarbans tiger taken to Kolkata zoo for treatment

Kolkata, Dec 31 (IANS) The West Bengal forest department Wednesday took an injured Royal Bengal tiger to Kolkata zoo after the big cat strayed into a village in Sundarbans Tuesday morning.

'The tiger was taken to Kolkata zoo today (Wednesday) and is now under medical observation of our expert team. It got an injury in the right leg. The frontal teeth of the tiger are also broken,' said state principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) Atanu Raha.

He said the tiger had sneaked into a village near Gosaba in South 24-Parganas district, around 180 km from Kolkata.

'We'll not release the tiger in Sundarbans forest as it's now unable to catch its prey. We'll take the tiger to the animal rehabilitation centre, which is being set up by the state government at Jharkhali in Sundarbans over 300 acres of land,' Raha said.

'We'll release the tiger at the rehabilitation centre when it'll completely recover from the injury. Till then it'll be kept under medical observation at the Kolkata zoo's animal treatment centre,' he added.