Sloth bear attacks six people and eludes capture

A sloth bear said to have injured six people residing between Bannerghatta National Park and the town of Attibele in India last week is now believed to have returned to its natural habitat, or at least that’s what officials are hoping.

Last week, wildlife officials issued a warning for a 50-mile area around Bannerghatta National Park as they worried the sloth bear is rabid, according to the New Indian Express.

More than 100 officials from BNP, Wildlife SOS, the forest department and the local police searched for the bear on foot, along with three veterinarians and darters. Drone cameras and camera traps were also deployed in the unsuccessful search effort.

“There have been no signs of the animal in the last three days. Four days back, the sloth bear was sighted at night near a temple in N Begur, which is 4-5 kilometers [2-3 miles] away from BNP,” a senior forest department official told The New Indian Express in a report Tuesday.

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“So we are only hoping that it would have made its way back to the forest patch using its natural instinct. However, we are not letting our guard down.”

The sloth bear is believed to have attacked the six people while on the run away from the forest from Sunday March 28 to the night of Monday March 29.

Wildlife officials were unsure if it was the same sloth bear that had been captured and taken to the Bannerghatta Biological Park rescue center where it subsequently escaped from the safari area, as reported by The Hindu on March 20.

However, it appears doubtful it is the same animal, considering the comment made by the rescue center operator from NGO Wildlife SOS in that same report.

“If it is the escaped bear, it is harmless, as it is friendly towards humans,” Arun A. Sha of the NGO Wildlife SOS, told The Hindu. “But the area has wild bears too, which are passing close to villages due to water scarcity.”

Photos of the sloth bear from a camera trap and a generic sloth bear courtesy of the forest department in India.

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