There is a proposal to form a Rapid Response Team to deal with situations arising from man-wild animal conflicts, said The Nilgiris Collector P. Sankar here on Wednesday.
Stating that it has been sent to the government, he told presspersons that it would be trained and equipped to deal with such emergencies.
He added that Halan, who was attacked by a bear at Thothamukkai near Kotagiri on Monday, died in a hospital at Coimbatore early on Wednesday.
In the attack, his wife Mathiammal had died and a neighbour Kumar had been injured.
Adverting to reports that there were more bears near Thothamukkai, the Collector said that if necessary cages would be installed there to trap them.
To a question on the controversy surrounding the handing over of a cheque for Rs. 3 lakh as compensation to the family of an estate worker Bhuvaneshwaran, who died under mysterious circumstances at Rockwood near Gudalur recently, Mr. Sankar said the payment had been stopped.
Though it was believed that he had been killed by a carnivore, the cause of the death is yet to be established.
