A file picture of tigers at the rescue centre

Alipurduar, Aug. 10: The 2.5ft-long tail of a tiger had to be amputated after another bit into it while it hung out of the cage in a centre for rescued big cats.

The injured tiger, Karna, was given 18 stitches and is still under saline and observation at South Khayerbari Tiger Rescue Centre, 43km from this town, where the incident occurred. A mesh will be raised soon in front of the cages to prevent tails from hanging out.

The centre has three cages that share the same courtyard. Alternately, one tiger is freed at a time in the courtyard. Karna and Shyam were born of the same mother and were rescued from Olympic Circus on August 27 last year.

On Friday, it was Shyam’s turn to be in the courtyard and as it paced about a little after noon, Karna sat in the cage with its tail hanging out. Suddenly Shyam pounced on Karna’s tail and bit it off. Although Karna hit out with its paw at Shyam, it continued to roar in pain. Shyam, too, suffered scratches on its face, which had to be treated.

Proloy Mandal, the veterinary surgeon of Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, and his team of two doctors conducted a surgery on Karna one-and-a-half-hours later. This morning, the animal took a little food and moved its limbs.

S.S Bist, the chief wildlife warden of Bengal, is worried because the first wild tiger will be brought here this month.

“We are expecting the tiger rescued from the Sundarbans at the South Khayerbari at the end of this month. Its left leg has been amputated below the knee. It needs care and all the more because it is a wild one. The slightest carelessness might cause it great harm. We have decided to set up an iron mesh to a minimum height of 3-4ft in front of each cage so that tails do not come out. Not only that, we will use wooden floor instead of cemented ones so that it is less slippery,” said Bist over the phone from Calcutta.

The wildlife chief has asked P.T. Bhutia, the conservator of forests (wildlife north), to conduct an inquiry into the incident.