Kolkata, Feb 28 (PTI) A Royal Bengal Tiger, the pugmarks of which were recently spotted in West Bengal's Purulia district, is suspected to have again moved to neighbouring Jharkhand, a senior forest officer said on Friday.

The pugmarks of the fully grown male tiger were spotted in the forested stretch from Raika Hills to Manbazar on February 24-25 but were not spotted thereafter, Chief Conservator of Forests S Kulandaivel told PTI.

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"The animal is believed to have again moved to Jharkhand, possibly to the Dalma forest range. As of now, there are no signs of the tiger's presence in the forests of Purulia," he said, adding the tiger is apparently in search of new territory.

"The animal has not shown any aggression, is avoiding humans and is retreating deep inside jungles... it is moving through the forest corridor spread across the two states. We have decided not to disturb it and will only watch its movement. Whenever it is coming to our side, we are alerting villagers not to confront it or come in its path," he said.

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No attempt has been made to capture it or tranquilise it with darts but the forest department is also not compromising with the security aspect of both villagers and the animal, Kulandaivel said.

He said cameras have already been installed along the entire stretch and the West Bengal forest department has not slackened vigil.

The male tiger had crossed into West Bengal from Jharkhand on January 12.

It returned to the Dalma forest range in Jharkhand on January 19-20 and again crossed into the Junglemahal region, comprising Jhargram, Purulia, Paschim Medinipur and Bankura districts, on January 24.

"The animal had moved to Jharkhand from Purulia three to four days after crossing into West Bengal but headed back to West Bengal on January 24. It again crossed over to the jungles of Jharkhand early in February, Thereafter, the pugmarks of the tiger were spotted again in Purulia on February 24-25," another senior forest official said.

In December, last year, a tigress named Zeenat had strayed into West Bengal from Odisha via Jharkhand and was caught after 21 days of pursuit by forest personnel.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)