KARIMNAGAR: In a classic Jungle Book case of sauntering in the wrong place at the wrong time, a sloth bear was spotted inside the BSNL telephone exchange office located in an urban hot-spot in Karimnagar on Wednesday. ‘Bear’ no doubts in mind: the wild visitor sent government officials and the entire neighbourhood into a tizzy.
The forest department officials from the Warangal zoo, led by veterinarian Dr Ch Praveen Kumar, made their entrance soon after to tranquillize the bear. And they did succeed in their attempts by tranquillizing the bear and rescuing it by at 12.15pm.The bear was earlier spotted at around 4.30am by a security guard posted at the telephone exchange office. The guard, along with people from adjacent areas, tried to scare away the bear by making loud noise and waving flaming sticks.
However, the police and forest department officials soon moved in to rescue the animal.While all commercial establishments surrounding the telephone exchange building were closed down, roads leading to telephone exchange building were also blocked to prevent any untoward incident during the rescue operation.
The bear is thought to have entered the telephone exchange building from the Rythu Bazar area.
According to the officials, around seven forest department officials, including Dr Kumar went into the building, with the task of locating the bear and tranquilizing it, at the same time ensuring their own safety.