NUAPADA: A 40-year-old protection assistant was killed and three others sustained grievous injuries after being attacked by a bear in Bijakhaman forest under Komna range here on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Santosh Dundi. Incidentally, the same bear had attacked and killed an elderly man in the Bijakhaman forest a couple of days back.
The incident took place in the afternoon. Forester Gopal Mahanand (40), forest guard Sashi Tanni (41) and two protection assistants Santosh and Sagar Thela (30) were patrolling in Bijakhaman forest to monitor the activities of the bear.
At around 4 pm, the patrolling team encountered the bear. On seeing the forest personnel, the animal charged towards them. It first caught hold of Sashi. When the others tried to come to his rescue, the bear turned towards Gopal and attacked him. Subsequently, the animal attacked Santosh and dragged him to some distance before killing him.
On hearing screams in the forest, residents of nearby villages rushed to the spot. While the bear ran deeper into the forest, villagers rushed the three injured forest personnel to the hospital. Later, Santosh’s body was recovered from the forest. While Gopal and Sashi were referred to Raipur after their condition worsened, Sagar is undergoing treatment at Nuapada district headquarters hospital (DHH).
Terming the incident as unfortunate, divisional forest officer (Territorial), Khariar Sushil Kumar Tripathy said, “We have sought permission from Wildlife PCCF SK Popli to tranquillise the bear and relocate it. The process to tranquillise the animal will start soon. The bear will be shifted to a place far away from human settlement.”
On July 16, the bear had attacked a 70-year-old man and his 48-year-old son in Bijakhaman forest. While the elderly man was killed, his son suffered injuries and is undergoing treatment at Nuapada DHH.