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Tribal held for keeping bear as pet gets bail

Special Correspondent

— photo: by special arrangement

Ram Singh Munda and the bear Rani.

BHUBANESWAR: A tribal of mineral-rich Keonjhar district of Orissa, arrested last week for keeping a sloth bear in his home, got temporary relief when a court allowed his bail plea on Monday.

Thirty-five-year-old Ram Singh Munda, a resident of Rutisila village under Ghatagaon block, was arrested on June 16 and lodged in the Keonjhar jail.

Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate Anita Sahu allowed Munda’s bail plea on the condition that he be released upon his furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 10,000 and one surety.

The formalities were completed and Munda was released from the prison in the evening.

Trouble started for Munda when a team of Forest Department officials reached his home and took away the one-and-a-half-year-old bear Rani from him. He was arrested for allegedly violating several sections of the Wildlife Protection Act.

The “rescued bear” was handed over to the Nandankanan Zoological Park.

Munda was booked and remanded to judicial custody even though he had informed the local Forest Department officials that he was keeping the bear as a pet.

The bear had been living in Munda’s home for more than a year. The animal was never chained and had not caused harm to anyone in the village.

Munda brought it home when it was just a few days old. He had found the injured cub alone in the forest.

When it was six-month-old, he informed the Forest Department. On two occasions efforts were made in the presence of forest officials to release the bear into the jungle. But it returned home.

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