Tiger falls into dry well, rescue efforts on

NAGPUR - A rescue operation has been mounted to save a tiger who fell into a dry well near Chameli forest area Monday afternoon, a wildlife official said.

The incident took place in an area around 42 km from here.

The tiger, whose age or size is not yet clear, crashed into the dry well, which was not protected by a wall, said Nitin Desai, Central India director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.

“From preliminary information available, it was probably chasing some prey like deer or a wild boar and must have accidentally fallen into the well. We have sent our people to investigate the matter,” Desai said.

The local tribals and the forest officials were engaged in an operation to rescue the highly endangered striped big cat from the well, said to be around 40 feet deep.

Desai said it was surprising that a tiger had strayed into this area, which has never reported a sighting in the past many years since it is not a thick forest region.

Though it would take time to confirm, Desai guessed that the tiger may have strayed from one of the sanctuaries in Amravati or Chandrapur districts.