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A rare Royal Bengal tigress has been released into the wild after being rescued from a rampaging mob that had chased her for 14 hours.

The pregnant animal's ordeal began on Monday evening when it emerged from the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, part of the world's largest expanse of mangrove forest, and was spotted near a village 150 miles (240km) south of Calcutta. As many as 1,000 armed villagers joined the subsequent hunt, pelting the creature with stones as they pursued it across fields, through huts and barns and up a banyan tree. Five forest guards were injured as they fought unsuccessfully to stop the villagers setting the tree alight. The villagers said the tigress attacked and injured as many as five people.

The animal was tranquilised after it managed to escape from the banyan tree, tore through the fishing nets the villagers had laid below it and, exhausted, sought refuge in a much smaller date palm.

It was treated for minor injuries and transported by boat along the river Sundarikati deep into the forest. The crew opened her cage and the creature leapt into the water. After roaring at her rescuers she swam away and disappeared.

The incident is the latest to highlight the unhealthy proximity of India's Bengal tigers and the growing human population.

According to a new report by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, there are 1,411 tigers left roaming on the sub-continent, down from 3,642 in 2002. Estimates indicate that as few as 70 survive in the Sunderbans forest.

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