West Bengal forest dept to keep tigers away from human settlements after Amphan

As extremely severe cyclone Amphan is set to make landfall later today, forest authorities in West Bengal, India are keeping a close watch on the protection of Royal Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans.

The state forest department has formed rapid response teams to ensure that tigers from the Sundarbans in South 24 Parganas district do not stray into nearby human settlements after the cyclone's landfall.

West Bengal's Chief Wildlife Warden Ravi Kant Sinha said a control room has been set up at Gosaba area in the district to monitor the situation in the mangrove forest.

He said if tigers try to stray from their core reserve area of the Sundarnans into the contiguous villages, two control rooms and the rapid response teams would take steps to send back the animals.

The response teams have been deployed in Sajnekhali and Jharkhali areas of South 24 Parganas with tranquiliser guns, nets and speed boats to negotiate the creeks crisscrossing the forest.

The number of tigers in the Sunderbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, stands at 96 -- with 73 being in the core reserve area and 23 in adjacent parts.

Amphan is expected to make landfall on Wednesday afternoon or evening between Digha in West Bengal and Hatia island in Bangladesh.