Local people claim a tiger has been seen on Sonadia in Cox's Bazar. The shape of a tiger was caught by the lens of a camera pointed from the middle of a canal towards the mangrove forest on Sonadia, an isolated island of Maheshkhali. Since the news spread, panic has gripped the area.

The photo shows the animal standing at the edge of the canal after coming out of Sonadia's mangrove forest. Because the camera lens was facing the sun, the mammal is somewhat blurred.

The photo was taken by Mohammad Farhad, a member of the forest protection and conservation committee that assists the forest department.

Farhad said they were going on patrol on Sonadia on Thursday (26 January), with forest department staff also on the boat travelling along the canal. Suddenly, looking towards the mangroves, they saw the tiger. He started taking photos and a video, but because he was facing the sun he could not capture the animal properly.

After analysing the photos together, they said the mammal in the picture is a tiger, but their initial view is that it is a fishing cat (mechho bagh), about the size of a large dog.

Although the photo matches the shape of a tiger, Farhad and the others are still not sure whether it is a fishing cat or a real tiger. Forest staff say there is nothing to fear if it is a fishing cat.

Advocate Sheikh Kamal, chairman of the Kutubjom union parishad (UP), said Sonadia's residents cannot believe the forest department's statement that it is a fishing cat or a jungle cat. People on Sonadia are frightened by the photo that has been published, he said.

M Anisur Rahman, range officer of the Gorakghata range in Maheshkhali under the Chattogram coastal forest department, said: "Our patrol team saw the tiger-shaped animal with their own eyes. They said it is a large species of jungle cat. There is nothing to panic about."

Asked about it, Samir Ranjan Saha, Sadar range officer of the Cox's Bazar South forest department, said jungle cats and fishing cats roam the coastal forests of Maheshkhali and Cox's Bazar. Large fishing cats and jungle cats are sometimes seen, and many people mistake them for tigers or leopards when they see them suddenly.

He added that over the past few years several fishing cats and jungle cats have been rescued from people and handed over to the Dulahazara Safari Park authorities. The tiger-shaped animal seen on Sonadia island is one of these two species, he said. The presence of a tiger here is not likely, but coastal forest staff and his team are still keeping watch on the area.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.