RAIPUR: A furious sloth bear attack left a father-son duo dead and injured two others, including a deputy forest ranger, in Korar forest range of Kanker Forest Division in Chhattisgarh.
The disturbing live video of the attack, which was captured by some journalists/villagers present at the site during the sloth bear’s second attack went viral on social media.
The sloth bear, believed to be infected by rabies, made the first attack on 45-year-old Sukhlal Darro around 11 am on January 18, said Divisional Forest Officer, Kanker, Alok Bajpai.
Darro and another person identified as Ajju Kureti, 22, had gone to their fields situated on the other side of the hilly Korar forest range. The villagers of Dongarkattu used to use the forest route to reach their fields as there was no other option. On January 18, when Sukhlal and Ajju were heading for the fields using the dense hilly forest route, the sloth bear first attacked Ajju.
As the forest team was on duty, the team members somehow managed to distract the bear. When the team was busy rescuing Ajju, the bear attacked Sukhlal, killing him on the spot. The forest team brought the injured Ajju to the range office and admitted him to the hospital.
Around 50 villagers and forest department staff reached the attack site to recover the body of Sukhlal. Shankar Darro, 65, Sukhlal’s father, was also present. When he moved towards his son’s body, the sloth bear suddenly appeared and chased him. Shankar climbed a tree in fear, but the bear dragged him down and attacked, killing him on the spot, said the DFO. Deputy forest ranger Narayan Yadav, 50, was attacked and injured while trying to save Shankar. He is undergoing treatment at a Raipur hospital.
“Usually, bears refrain from approaching human gatherings in such large numbers, but this case was an exception. The veterinary experts called from Raipur told us that the bear might be infected by rabies. We can be sure of rabies infection only after the bear is caught and examined. This was the first such incident in the Korar forest range. Such a violent attack by a bear in the presence of 50 people is rare,” the DFO said.
A joint team from the Raipur and Kanker forest divisions is carrying out an operation to tranquilize and rescue the bear. As vehicles cannot enter the hilly and dense forests of the Korar Range, the forest department is using a JCB to locate the bear and rescue it by tranquilizing it. Cages are being set up to catch the bear.
When asked about the bear population in Korar, the DFO said that the forest department is in the process of counting. We have data of Kanker range which houses around 25-30 bears in the Kanker forest range, and Korar is much larger than Kanker, the DFO said.
