A tiger escaped severe flooding in Assam by breaking into a house and finding a bed to lie down on.
The adult female is believed to have fled from Kaziranga National Park, where over 140 animals were said to have died as the water rose.
She managed to get inside the building, next to a shop, and take some refuge from the wet conditions.
Officials from the Wildlife Trust of India helped guide her out safely in the direction of the jungle.
They said the tiger was spotted next to a highway at 8.30am, and was disturbed by the traffic.
‘He jumped across the wall of a scrap garage and took refuge in the dark room,’ a spokesman said.
Our vet @samshulwildvet is on a mission to tranquilise this #tiger to get him out of bed! Anyone else see the irony? ? #AssamFlood #Kaziranga ☝this thread is all abput good work done @vivek4wild@action4ifaw @VishalDadlani @deespeak @_AdilHussain @DevrajSanyal + pic.twitter.com/gCrwZtqzcc
— Wildlife Trust India (@wti_org_india) July 18, 2019
As the sun goes down, our team with @kaziranga_ prepares to block the highway and clear the area to provide a safe passage to the tiger. Fingers crossed! #AssamFloods #Kaziranga @vivek4wild @action4ifaw pic.twitter.com/qpJE6zbJnv
— Wildlife Trust India (@wti_org_india) July 18, 2019
Rathin Barman, who organised the rescue, told the BBC: ‘She was very exhausted and had a nice day-long nap.
‘The great thing was that nobody disturbed her so she could rest. There’s a lot of respect for wildlife in this region.
‘[The home owner] says he will preserve the bed sheet and pillow on which the tiger rested.’
The people who lived in the house all ran away when they saw the tiger come in, he said.
It came amid widespread flooding in the area.
At least 90 people have died in Nepal and 62 in north-eastern India’s Assam state over the past week. A dozen have been killed in flooding in Bangladesh.
Shiv Kumar, a government official in Assam, said 10 rare one-horned rhinos have died in Kaziranga National Park since the Brahmaputra River burst its banks, flooding the reserve.
