IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Garga, D.P. | |
| How far can a tiger swim? | |
| 1947 Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (47): 545-546 | |
The nearest to Sunderbans one could reach from within the district of Midapur (my home<9 was at Khedgeree in Contai Subdivision 18 miles across the river Hooghly, to what is now known as Frasergunj, which is at present devoid of any jungle. But even up till 1922, while the deforestation was in progress but not complete, tigers crossed this 18-mile wide river with currents and were killed by the villages at Khedgeree. From 1907 deforestation started at Frasergunj and the Revenue Department started to lease out lands to cultivators. The plan originated from the brains of the late Sir Andrew Fraser, after whom the place is now called. Before 1907 the place was densely wooded and a favorite haunt of tigers. This part of Sunderbans was then known as Mabis Khola Khas-Mahal forests. In the year 1900 a tiger crossed this river and came on to the shore at a place called Horkhalli in Tamluk Subdivision in the District of Midnapur and was killed at a village called Denlpata about 14 miles from Horkali. Now, if the tiger started swimming from Mabis Khola, where the jungle finished; then it would have swam as many as 33 miles before it reached Horkbali. But there was another possibility. The tiger might have walked through thickly populated villages under cover of darkness for 31 miles just on to the opposite bank of Horkhali and then swum across the Hooghly, which is about 6 miles wide at this point. Having achieved this it might again have walked 14 miles to Deulpata, where it was found early in the morning and killed by one of the nephews of late Hon'ble Mr. Nilmont Mandal, the local Zamindar. |
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