A man from Silli area of Ranchi district in Jharkhand on Wednesday morning had an unexpected guest at his house as a tiger barged into his house. The incident occurred at Mardu village under Kocho panchayat of Silli block-65 km east of Ranchi in the house of Purandar Mahto. Mahto, a farmer, was sitting at his house on Tuesday night, when he heard some strange noise from the adjacent room.
As he turned on the torchlight and looked inside the room, he trembled in fear as he spotted a tiger sitting on the opposite side. Mahto’s presence of mind acted and without making any sound, he managed to lock the big cat inside the room. Later, he informed the forest department staff who reached the spot for rescuing the animal.
Talking to The Pioneer, Utkarash Kumar SDO (Sadar) said, “After the district administration received information about spotting a tiger in a farmer’s house in Silli area. The district administration sprang into action. Forest department teams from Palamu and Ormanjhi reached the spot and rescued the big cat. The tiger has been handed over to the Forest department. The forest department will take a decision whether to hand over the tiger to Palamu or Bengal forest division.” The SDO said that the situation is under control.
Meanwhile, word of the incident spread like wildfire, drawing thousands of curious onlookers to the scene. The tiger estimated to be around six to seven feet long and suspected to be Royal Bengal Tiger remained locked inside the house for more than 10 hours. The Ranchi district administration imposed prohibitory orders around the house, restricting movement within a 200-metre radius on the orders of Ranchi Sadar SDO. A local resident managed to take a partial image of the tiger through a hole drilled into the wall, which showed that the animal was crouched inside one of the rooms.
The Forest Department first dispatched a rescue team from Birsa Biological Park in Ormanjhi, but their attempts to tranquilize and capture the tiger were unsuccessful. Subsequently, senior officials called in a more experienced unit from the Betla Tiger Reserve in Palamu.
A rescue team from the Palamau Tiger Reserve reached the location, and conducted a rescue operation, successfully trapping and caging the animal, the officer said. “It was tranquilised after being caged. It was loaded on a vehicle and will be taken to Ranchi’s Birsa zoo where it will be kept under observation,” sources at district administration said.
The tiger was rescued successfully and its health condition appears to be good. A thorough examination of the animal will be done. The area, located near the West Bengal border, occasionally sees movement of wildlife, but an incident of this nature is extremely rare.