Man-bear conflict

Posting two news items about four people killed by a bear, which was in turn killed by the police.
Sabyasachi

Four killed in bear attack in Madhya Pradesh
IANS 29 October 2009, 04:24pm IST
BHOPAL: A fishing trip turned to disaster for four people, including three brothers, who were killed when a bear mauled them in a Madhya Pradesh forest, officials said on Thursday.

The incident took place Wednesday evening in the Sansra forest range in Rampur, about 50 km from the district headquarters Sidhi.

"It appears that the bear that attacked and killed people had strayed in the town area from the nearby forest," Sidhi forest divisional officer R.B. Sharma said.

While those injured have been admitted to the district hospital, the bodies of those killed have been sent for postmortem and a hunt has been launched for the bear, he added.

Three brothers - Premlal, Shyamlal and Rajole - and Lakhpati, all from Rampur, were killed.

Link to the source Article:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/h...ow/5176680.cms

'Killer' bear gunned down in Madhya Pradesh

BHOPAL: A bear, which killed four villagers in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district, was shot dead by police Thursday, forest officials said.

Four people, including three brothers, were killed Wednesday when a bear mauled them in the Sansra forest range in Rampur, about 50 km from the district headquarters Sidhi. Three others were injured in the attack.

"A search drive was launched by a joint team of police and forest department officials late last (Wednesday) night. The team stayed at the place where the bodies of those killed were found, anticipating that the animal would return to the spot. Their expectation came true and the animal was killed by police when it appeared," Sidhi Forest Divisional Officer R.B. Sharma said.

Link to source article:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/h...ow/5177758.cms

It is quite shocking to note that a sloth bear killed 3 persons in a day.

Sloth bears are reported to have very poor eyesight and many confrontations in the jungle happen owing to this feature as the bear will be caught by surprise if an unwary person gets too close.

Bears' power of smell is said to surpass even a blood hound. (a grizzley bear locates a rotting meat as far as 15 Kms !!). Due to this feature many confrontations are avoided by the bear as they pick the scent of man and bolts before even he is aware..

A sloth bear is not a predator as such and its diet is predominantly fruits viz. wild figs, jambul, bael, ebony,ber, ebony etc. Besides, they have a strong liking for honey and termites during monsoon. They also readily take carrion if available. (Ref: The book of Indian Animals by S.H.Prater)

Hence, it is very obvious that sloth bear never attacks man for food. Nursing mother can be dangerous. But this case is very strange. Perhaps an odd exception on rampage.. due to persecution and desperation.

Surprising to know that the Bear was termed as a "Killer Bear" and was shot down by the Authorities. Human-Animal conflicts are so common and is nothing new however it is sad to know that the victims succumbed to their injuries. Unforeseen incidents do occur now and then and it's not easy to put the blame on their side depending on the situation. However an animal that would've injured a human being should not be shot dead as they never or hardly do it for pleasure, 99% of the time as we all know they would do it when they feel threatened or they have to protect their young ones. NGO's should definitely consider educating the masses on the periphery of the Jungles about Bear attacks as they have become quite common throughout the country just the way they do educate about man elephant conflicts or snake bites. Killing the Bear just because it had attacked someone does not at all mean indicate that it would resort to this behaviour all the time and is absolutely not the right thing to do.

I have come across a strange incident in Nagarjuna Sagar Tiger Reserve where a Black Panther killed a small girl and ate half of her body. The authorities tried to capture the animal by tranquilizing it but were unsuccessful in all the attempts. Later on the animal became mad and used to chase vehicles plying on the road at night just the way a stray dog would chase a car, one night it got hit by a truck and got killed on the spot. Here in this situation the Panther did not become a full fledged man eater though there was a chance that it could've resorted to killing and eating human beings like a normal man eater would do in most situations if not all. Hope the people are always wary of these unfortunate incidents Hope the Authorities compensate their families and should definitely find out the real cause of this unfortunate incident (the mistake could've been theirs too).

Regards,
Sidd

It is highly improbable that a sloth bear can kill 4 people. There are cases of people getting mauled by a sloth bear. It happens, when one inadvertently bumps into a sleeping sloth bear. In such situations, the first reaction of any animal is to run away. In case you have breached the fight to flight distance and are much closer than the comfort zone, the sloth bear will rear itself up on its hind legs and scratch the person. Most often the person shows up in the hospital with bad lacerations. One of the foresters in Bandhavgarh was also got his face disfigured by a sloth bear. In all such cases, when one person is mauled, others run away. And the sloth bear after scratching the person runs away. So even if one person is scratched, how can the other three also get killed?

This appears to be a clear case of murder. I think the bodies of the persons would have been cut by a sharp weapon to resemble the scratch marks done by a bear. And the alacrity with which the police shot the sloth bear smells of foul play.

How did they know that the sloth bear was indeed the culprit? Did the wait to see whether this was an isolated incident or not? If so, why the sloth bear was killed? Normally, they tranquilise and relocate the animal. Why this procedure was not followed?

It is a known fact that whenever in the past there were cases of man-eating tiger or leopard, people used to settle their old enmities and put the blame on the animal. So most often the figures of these killings were inflated.

At times, when you bump into a tiger or leopard guarding its kill or if it is with its cubs, they may maul the person and run away from the place. At times, it is seen that the animal returns to the scene and having found the body of the person lying and the sight of blood, eat a portion of the body. However, this never makes them a man eater.

Sabyasachi

Shri Kailash Sankhala quoted in his book - Tiger, the story of Indian tiger that tigers took the blame of many pre-planned murders.

Those days it was very easy to brand a tiger or leopard as man eater. The culprits living in the fringes used this oppurtunity and committed planned murders with ease without fear of jurisdiction.

The saga of 4 killings in 1 day by a lone sloth bear could be a handiwork of a perfect murderer and unfortunately bear came to his rescue..