Patna, Dec. 3: The state environment and forests department today sought help from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for capturing a tiger that strayed from the Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Sources said the tiger is presently moving in an area spread over Saran and Vaishali districts on the banks of Gandak, around 40 Km north of Patna.

The help was sought after a team of senior forest officials visited the place where the tiger was sighted on Friday.

“Going by signs like scat and pug marks, the tiger appears to have taken shelter on a 3m long mid-channel island and it is moving in the areas located on the banks of Gandak,” principal chief conservator of forest Bashir Ahmed Khan told The Telegraph.

Khan and other senior forest officials, including chief wildlife warden D.K. Shukla, visited the place today to take stock of the situation.

He said the island is full of long grass, hence it is difficult to locate the animal and also dangerous to move on foot.

“We have requested the NTCA to provide us some experts to capture the tiger. We have also asked for a trained elephant, which would help the team move around the area and locate the big cat,” he said and added the NTCA directed that the animal should be left on its own for next few days so that it can settle down, as it might be in an agitated state of mind after its encounter with human beings.

Wildlife Trust of India official and an expert on tigers, Samir Kumar Sinha, who accompanied the team, said chances of the tiger’s encounter with human beings at its present location is minimal because the terrain is full of prey base in the form of wild boar and blue bulls.

“The signs collected during the field visit clearly suggest that the feline has been staying in the area for about a week during which it had no encounter with human beings,” he said.

Sinha said tigers possess a very strong sense of home ranging and the possibility of the animal returning to its home in VTR could not be ruled out if it was left on its own for few days. “Few months ago, a tiger from Ranthambore reserve in Rajasthan had strayed to Mathura. It returned to its original place on its own a few days later,” he added.

The forest department, however, is not leaving anything to chance and an awareness drive has been launched in the area to educate the residents how they should react in case they come across the strayed big cat.

“An assistant conservator of forest has been deputed to coordinate with Saran and Vaishali administration and police in case any information about the presence of tiger near a human habitation is received,” Khan said, adding: “A dedicated team with tranquiliser gun has been deputed in a camp office near Sonepur so that it could move quickly in case any information about tiger is received.”

On Thursday, the tiger had attacked Saran divisional forest officer K. Ganesh Kumar. The official had gone too close to the animal in his effort to dart it with a tranquiliser gun in a bushy area near Sarwar Magarpar village after villagers informed him about the presence of a tiger there.

Kumar’s both hands were badly injured in the incident and he was rushed to a hospital in Hajipur for treatment.

“We had to place a steel rod in the right hand of the officer and had to conduct a minor operation on his left hand,” said Dr Hari Prasad, who treated the injured officer.