The tiger that had strayed into the forest of Lalgarh in West Midnapore district last month was killed by the locals today, a top Forest department official said here.
The carcass of the adult tiger was recovered from the Lalgarh forest, West Bengal's Chief Wildlife Warden Ravi Kant Sinha said.
"The carcass has injury marks, caused by spears, in the neck," he told PTI.
Asked when the big cat was killed, Sinha said it could be after 10 AM today, because "till that time, the forest personnel were aware of its location".
On why the tiger could not be captured over the last month-and-a-half, he said, "We had tried out best. We had put cages in different areas of the forest. We had sent tranquilising teams, but could not capture it."
Joydip Kundu of the Society for Heritage and Ecological Researches said, "It is a black day for us. The tiger was brutally killed. The Forest department is doing a good work in the Sunderbans, but here, the tiger could not be saved."