Seven injured in bison raid

TT, Jalpaiguri, Dec. 25: Seven persons, including a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan, were injured when a bison came out of Moraghat forest this morning and raided a nearby village. The animal was later darted and it died of a heart failure, foresters said.

Sources said, around 7am, two bison came out of the forest and entered Uttarnunkhawadanga village in Banarhat block of Jalpaiguri district, around 60km from here.

"While one of the animals returned to the forest soon, the other strayed into the village prompting hundreds of people to assemble and chase it," a senior forester said.

SSB jawan Amzad Khan was attacked by the bison when he tried to disperse the crowd and villager Sushil Roy was injured when he went too close to the animal.

"It was moving very quickly and the villagers kept chasing it" Dinesh Roy, a resident of the area, said.

Five others were also injured as the gaur hit them with its horns. They were taken to the local health centre where some are still under treatment.

"Foresters from nearby beats like Khunia, Moraghat, Diana and Nathua had gone to the spot. But movement of the animal and the overenthusiastic crowd, made their job tough," a senior forester said.

The animal was darted around 2.30pm. "But it collapsed after tranquilisation. It is common for gaurs to die out of excitement," Shankar Saha, the beat officer of Nathua forest beat, said.