Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25 -- A seven- to eight-month-old Royal Bengal tiger cub was rescued from an empty house in an Odisha village in Mayurbhanj district on Friday after heavy rain drove it out of the forest, triggering panic among residents, forest officials said.

The cub had been moving around Khaparkhai village under the Thakurmunda forest range, adjoining the Similipal Tiger Reserve, since Thursday night.

Officials said a villager first noticed the cub near his house on Thursday night, and locals soon alerted forest officials and kept watch over the animal with flashlights. A team led by Thakurmunda range officer Umakanta Behera and forester Bidyadhar Mahanta reached the village around 9 pm.

The cub initially moved towards the forest...