BHUBANESWAR: A bear that went atop a tree after being chased by some villagers in Nabarangpur district early on Sunday morning was rescued by forest officials after two days.The terrified animal which had sneaked into Nayakguda village within Umerkote range of Nabarangpur forest division held on to the tree’s branches for nearly 32 hours. DFO Prasanna Kumar Behera said forest officials had to tranquilise the bear to bring it down from the tree at around 1 pm on Monday.
The bear strayed into the locality from a nearby forest on Saturday night. It climbed the tree after being chased by some people. On being informed, a 10-member team of forest officials reached the spot to bring it down. The team had a tough time rescuing it, Nabarangpur ACF Dhanurjaya Mahapatra said. The forest officials cleared the crowd from the area and offered the bear with the choicest of food including jaggery and mahua flowers to lure it down but in vain. After all their efforts failed, the officials decided to tranquilise the animal.
The bear was then brought down from the tree in an unconscious state and shifted to the Umerkote range office in a cage where it was administered necessary veterinary care. “After monitoring its health for a few hours, the animal was released into the forest on Monday night,” the ACF said. He said the bear was petrified after being chased by people and not coming down. “Previously we had rescued monkeys too,” Mahapatra said. Locals, on the other hand, said wild bears often sneak into their area in search of food. They urged Forest department to initiate adequate measures to prevent the animals from entering human habitations.