Big cat rescued from tree
A pregnant tigress has been rescued by forest guards in India, after getting stuck up a tree.
The big cat strayed into a village near the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, in Deulbari, about 150 miles south of Calcutta.
She was chased by frightened villagers who threw stones and burning sticks.
The tigress climbed a date palm tree to escape, and it took nearly 14 hours to tranquilise and bring her down, said Kanti Ganguly, Sunderbans affairs minister of West Bengal state.
The tigress suffered minor injuries, which were treated by the guards before the animal was transported in a boat and released inside the mangrove reserve.
The Sunderbans, nearly 3,860 square miles of marshlands and mangrove forests along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, is one of the few remaining natural tiger habitats in India.
Tigers have been slowly disappearing from forests and reserves in India due to poaching, growing tourism, and a shortage of properly trained forest guards.
The government run Project Tiger said the tiger population has dropped from nearly 3,600 five years ago to about 1,411.
© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.
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