Ramnagar (Uttaranchal), Jan. 10 : Wildlife officials captured a tiger on Friday after it had strayed into a human settlement here.

The tiger had been wandering around in the area for past one month and had injured many villagers and their livestock, the officials claimed.

They said that they had put up a cage for past one month, but managed to capture the animal only on Friday, after saving it from the villagers'' ire.

"We had put a cage for past one month to capture the tiger. Today, it was trapped. We will examine the animal, and if there are no injuries, we will release it," said PK Patro, District Forest Officer (DFO), Ramnagar.

Instances of tigers wandering towards human settlement have become quite frequent in India. There have been many occasions in the past when tigers have attacked and killed villagers and their livestock.

Their dwindling habitat is being cited as one of the main reasons for this intrusion into human habitat.

There were about 40,000 tigers in India a century ago. A government census report published in 2008 said the tiger population has fallen to 1,411, down from 3,642 in 2002, largely due to dwindling habitat and poaching. (ANI)