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TEZPUR ASSAM

NAT15National/WildLifeTiger falls into village well, rescuedTezpur Assam, Oct 31 IANS A Royal Bengal tiger was rescued from a well in a village near here, officials said Friday.The tiger was trapped in the well for almost 24 hours before being rescued Thursday evening, they said. Villagers found the tiger in the well Wednesday morning and informed the authorities.A rescue team comprising staff of the NGOs Wildlife Trust of India and International Fund for Animal Welfare IFAW swung into action after forest officials alerted them, a WTI-IFAW statement said. "We could reach the spot only by the evening Wednesday and tried to rescue the tiger, but as it was getting dark, we had to abandon our attempts," Abhijit Bhawal of the rescue team said, adding that the operation was resumed next morning Thursday. The tiger had to be sedated before it was winched out of the well, Prasanta Boro, veterinarian in charge of WTI's Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation CWRC in Kaziranga, said.The tiger was checked for injuries and put into a cage before being transported to the release site in Nameri National Park, he said."This was an amazing rescue. We had to cross the Jia Bhoroli river on boats. The tiger was waking up, growling and getting violent, which did not help our nerves in the least," Boro said. "However, where the tiger came from remained a mystery. We do not know exactly how it fell into the well," he said. "There was flash flood just two days ago in Nameri National Park, 30 km from the rescue site, and 40 percent of the area was submerged. The tiger could have been displaced by the flood," WTI official Rathin Barman said.--Indo-Asian News Servicesnb/jg314 Words31101248