Karimnagar: Bear roaming in Rekurthi tranquillised, captured

Forest officials along with a special animal rescue vehicle rushed to the spot and shot the bear with a tranquilliser gun, and later shifted it to a safer place

Karimnagar: A sloth bear, which created quite a flutter in the Rekurthy residential area here on Saturday, was finally captured by Forest officials, who had to use a tranquilizer dart to calm down the wild visitor.

Based on information from residents of Rekurthy about the sighting of the sloth bear, Forest officials reached the location and after confirming the presence of the bear in the area, condoned off the area and took control of the situation with the help of the police, according to an official statement from the Forest department, which said the unusual visitor was a female bear aged about 10 years.

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After this, the Wildlife Rescue team from Warangal was requested to join the operation. On arrival of the team, Dr Ch. Praveen Kumar tranquillized the bear, which did not have any injuries. She was then kept under observation at the DFO office complex, Karimnagar and would soon be released into the Palimela forest in Mahadevpur mandal of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, the statement said.

The episode had began unfolding late last night, when the bear was sighted at Sripuram, Rizvi Chaman and Shubham Garden areas. Her movements were recorded in multiple CCTV cameras in Sripuram Colony and other areas. With panic gripping the residents, local youth patrolled their localities with sticks during the night. By morning, the bear had moved into Rekurthy, where locals captured visuals on mobile phones and informed the Forest officials.

By the time the officials reached the spot, the bear had gone into hiding in the hillocks near the Rekurthy old gram panchayat office. Though officials tried using a net to capture it, the plan did not work out, after which the Wildlife Rescue team decided to use the tranquilizer dart.