Calcutta/Bankura: The tiger photographed by hidden cameras in Lalgarh on March 2 has moved to the jungles of Bankura, forest officials said on Wednesday.

Fresh pug marks were spotted by villagers at Pirbanka forest in Bankura on Tuesday night. Local forest officials clicked pictures of the pug marks and sent them to Calcutta for examination.

The tiger was in West Midnapore's Goaltore a couple of days ago.

"The tiger is an extremely shy animal and does not want humans around. This one has been looking for 15-20 sqkm of forest area without human presence but he will not find it in these parts," said a forest official in Calcutta who is monitoring the search operation.

The jungles spanning the districts of Bankura, West Midnapore and Jhargram are spread over roughly 30sqkm but they are dotted with human settlements.

"A major part of these forests was destroyed. They have been revived under the joint forest management programme," said Ravi Kant Sinha, the chief wildlife warden of the state.

The joint forest management programme involves the participation of local communities and forest departments in the upkeep and development of a forest. It has helped increase Bengal's forest cover in the past few years.

Villagers venture into the forests to collect sal leaves, timber and other things. Forest officials banned entry into the forests after the tiger was sighted but villagers continued to sneak in.

The state wildlife authorities had alerted the National Tiger Conservation Authority soon after the tiger was first photographed on March 2. But the pictures could not be collated with those in the NTCA database. "The pictures taken in Lalgarh did not capture both flanks of the tiger at the same time, which is necessary for collating the pictures with NTCA," said a forest official in Calcutta.

The cameras were not placed in pairs because the primary aim of was to confirm the presence of the tiger and capture him.