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A seven- to eight-month-old Royal Bengal tiger cub was rescued from an empty house in an Odisha village in Mayurbhanj district on Friday after heavy rain drove it out of the forest, triggering panic among residents, forest officials said.
The cub had been moving around Khaparkhai village under the Thakurmunda forest range, adjoining the Similipal Tiger Reserve, since Thursday night.
Officials said a villager first noticed the cub near his house on Thursday night, and locals soon alerted forest officials and kept watch over the animal with flashlights. A team led by Thakurmunda range officer Umakanta Behera and forester Bidyadhar Mahanta reached the village around 9 pm.
The cub initially moved towards the forest but returned to the habitation after heavy rain and took shelter in an unoccupied house constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. On Friday morning, villagers, fearing for their safety, shut the door from outside and informed the forest department.
A senior forest team, including Karanjia DFO Ajay Kumar Sahu, ACF Prabhat Kumar Kuanr, Similipal Tiger Reserve Deputy Director ACF Phalguni Behera and ACF Ashok Kumar Das, who reached the spot, found that the cub appeared ill and required veterinary attention. Using nets and a specialised transport cage, the rescue team safely secured the animal around noon and shifted it to the Thakurmunda forest range office.
Field Director of Similipal Tiger Reserve and Baripada Regional Chief Conservator of Forests Prakash Chand Gogineni said the cub was undergoing veterinary examination and treatment. “After it recovers and attains the required fitness, the cub will be shifted to a larger rehabilitation enclosure at Jamuani in the core area of the Similipal Tiger Reserve,” he said, adding that it will be kept under observation until it develops the hunting skills needed to survive independently.
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