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Courage tides over ineptitude
& crowd
Himalayan Black Bear safely captured at cost of injuries to three forest
personnel
Sikkim Express Report -GANGTOK, 3rd November 2009: An unruly mob, ineffective tranquilizers and unimaginative containment measures severely handicapped t= he brave forest and police officials in a near disastrous mission to capture a wandering Himalayan Black Bear at Upper Sichey = near East District Administrative complex today that took a senior forest offici= al and a DFO to the brink of death before a heroic cop firmly stood his ground= to save the day.
Forest joint director JB Subba, DFO (East) BB Gurung and Himalayan Zoological P= ark medic assistant Sonam Tshe= ring Lepcha sustained deep injuries during the mauli= ng by the rampaging fully grown bear at the bamboo thicket above the road near the administrative complex.
And it all happened because of around seven tranquilize= rs which had been rifled into the bear in regular intervals refused to sober d= own the bear with generous contribution of noise from the crowd which had gathe= red in large numbers to watch the tamasha seriously jeopardizing the containment measures that had been carefully put into plac= e by forest and police officials with great risk to limb and life.
It is a miracle that there were no casualties not from = the claws of the bear but from the stampede of the crowd on three occasions.
The whole incident began early morning when Mrs Pema Zangpo
Gurung spotted the animal at around 7 am in her=
small
field at Sateybari, Upper =
Sichey.
It was her husband who recognized the animal as a bear and he immediately
alerted the local police and forest staff. The bear had strayed into the su=
burb
during the night hours in search of food and apparently camped at the field=
. Once
informed, the local police and forest staff reached the spot led by Chief
Wildlife Warden NT Bhutia and CCF (Wildlife) HP=
Pradhan. The area was cordoned off and a trap was lai=
d even
as the bear lay hidden in the field. At around 10:30, the first tranquilizer
was pumped into the bear through a draft fired from a rifle. By then, the w=
hole
area was surrounded by curious onlookers whose numbers grew in strength des=
pite
repeated requests them to vacate the area.
At 11: 12 am, two tranquilizers were shot into the bear from the rooftop of=
a
nearby building. Instead of having a debilitating effect, the shots seemed =
to
have injected a fresh bout of energy into the bear that jumped out of the f=
ield
with a roar, bypassed the trap and somehow managed to reach to the upper ro=
ad
and wilted away into the bamboo thicket even as the crowds went helter-skel=
ter
with terror.
By this time, additional forces from the Sadar police station led by PI T= shering Sherpa and more forest officials arrived at the scene where the bear was cornered. SP (East) Dr MS Tuli was also present= at the spot to supervise the capture mission. Despite poor visibility, two more tranquilizers from the rifle and one from a pistol seemed to have shown its desired effect on the bear. Close observations gave a false sense of securi= ty to the people and the authorities leading to the signal given for the cage = to be hauled up to the spot. Then at 12:30, disaster struck as the bear roared back to life and in lightening speed jumped on those nearby. Joint director= JB Subba was the first victim as the bear mauled him and= took him down rolling. DFO (Territorial, East) BB Gurung tried to come to the rescue and a chunk of meat from his left thigh was cla= wed out when the bear lashed on him.
The bear was hauled into the cage and into the forest vehicle at 1:20 am ending= a six hour long standoff. The bear was whisked away to the Himalayan Zoologic= al Park where it will put under observation for some time, forest officials sa= id. The bear could have probably slipped into the urban areas in search of food from the nearby Rateychu Reserve Forest, it is suspe= cted.
Despite the threat posed by the huge bear to the human lives, the forest and police officials took great precaution and risked their lives to safely capture the Himalayan Black Bear, a highly endangered wildlife species listed in the Schedule I of the Protection of Wildlife Act.
Meanwhile, the injured Subba has
been airlifted to Siliguri for further medical
treatment while the DFO and the medic assistant are being treated here in
Gangtok.
At the same time, questions have crept over the reasons for the increasing
wanderings of wild animals into human habitats. The Upper Sichey
bear is reported to have been wandering in and around the area up to Arithang for the past one week. The animal was in sea=
rch of
food and as forest officials point out, the increasing loss of their food i=
tems
from the jungles have forced these animals to come into conflict with human=
s. Recently,
a bear had jumped on a group of farmers and clawed away a chunk of meat from
the leg of a 42 year headmaster at Sangshu, Dentam in West Sikkim yesterday=
.