West Bengal village in state of panic after 'tiger' scare

Panic gripped residents of Kanaipur village in Hooghly district of West Bengal on Monday after CCTV footages of an unknown animal led to suspicion of it being a tiger. Locals were kept guessing since morning, when footages captured by the CCTV installed outside a shop showed the animal prowling around in the vicinity of the village in Konnagar.

Unable to recognise the animal, puzzled villagers then informed the police. Chandananager Police Commissioner Humayun Kabir, however, said the animal in question could either be a civet or a fishing cat, but not a tiger.

"Police has examined the footages and come to this conclusion," he added. Kabir said the forest department has been called in and urged the locals not to harm or capture the animal.

On January 1, a similar incident had taken place at Rishra in the district, where a big fishing cat was killed by people, mistaking the animal to be a tiger..