Very few wildlife events generate greater interest among the masses than a tiger straying into a Sunderbans village. The sight of the big cat, cowering in fear, desperately trying to save itself from panic-stricken villagers is indeed a pathetic one. The villagers don’t find it funny either, for essentially they neither want to harm the magnificent animal nor lose their limbs or lives in a tiger attack. But straying hasn’t stopped. Even more surprisingly, no effort has yet been made to find out why the tigers keep straying into the villages.
We can go by the accepted reasons territorial fights, prey scarcity or old-age blunting of their hunting skills. Of late, the rising water level has also been blamed while pregnant animals are known to stray into villages, where they look for safe places to deliver litters.