Friday, November 25, 2011

Sighting below Gangtok brings back bear scare

GANGTOK, 24 Nov: After a Himalayan Black Bear was spotted at Saramsa last week, another bear sighting was reported near human habitation at 6th Mile Samdur Wednesday afternoon. However, no attacks on humans have been reported in both of these instances and it was also not confirmed whether both the sightings were of the same bear.

It is informed that a person came face to face with a bear at 6th Mile Samdur above Orange Village yesterday at around 2:30 PM when he was collecting fodder in his private land.
After receiving the information from the District Information Centre at around 4 PM, a team from the Wildlife Division of the Forest Department immediately rushed to the spot.
The team led by DFO [Wildlife] [East], Ravi Kumar, along with patrolling staff and tranquilizing team with all required equipments, safety gun, cages and crackers immediately started their operation.
The DFO informed that on reaching the spot, the team started a combing operation and fired crackers but there was no sign of the bear thereafter the team undertook patrolling of the entire area but could not trace the bear.
He added that the patrolling continued till midnight with no sign of the bear.
“This morning at around 8 PM, the DFO again went to the spot with his team and enquired about the animal but the bear was not sighted,” said Mr Kumar.
The DFO informed that since the area is situated above NH 31A, due to disturbance caused by the traffic below and bursting of crackers during the combing operation, the bear could have moved to some other place.
However, patrolling is continuing in the area and its surrounding areas as well. Likewise, an 8-member forest team undertook patrolling in the 6th Mile and Saramsa areas, where a bear had been sighted around a week back.
The DFO informed that today they also received permission from the administration to use loudspeakers to create awareness among the people and alert them with various precautions. The team has been advising people not to venture into forest areas late in the evening and early morning or to walk around alone near such areas.
He also stated that humans are eating into the food available in the forests forcing these animals to venture out. He added that the above factors could be the reason behind these bear sightings in these private holdings which are attached to forest areas.
As part of preventive measures, the DFO informed that the Wildlife Division has started extensive patrolling throughout the district and supplementary food for animals have also been placed inside the sanctuary areas.
Likewise, the Division is also ready with cages, tranquilizers and other equipments in case wild animals enter human habitat.
“As a long term measure, the department has decided to go for planting fruit-bearing trees in the forest in the near future,” he added.

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