TIRUNELVELI
A bear that strayed into a village near Moolaikkaraipatti in the district triggered panic among the villagers.
A farmer Siluvai of Barbarammalpuram near Moolaikkaraipatti said he spotted the bear inside his plantain grove on Monday morning when he went there. After he alerted the Department of Forest about the wild animal camping in his plantain grove, two forest personnel rushed to the spot.
Since a team, led by District Forest Officer Gowtham, was busy caging another female stray bear, aged about seven years with two cubs near Mela Seval on Tirunelveli - Ambasaumdram Highway, the operation to catch the bear at Barbarammalpuram could not be started immediately even though veterinarian Muthukrishnan, an expert in tranquillising the stray wild animals, was alerted about the bear.
In the presence of Mr. Gowtham, the stray bear with the cubs were released beyond Thalaiyanai in the Western Ghats near Kalakkad in the evening.
“After releasing the bear with the cubs in the Western Ghats, we’ll rush the rescue team to Barbarammalpuram,” said Mr. Gowtham even as two forest personnel were keeping a tab on it.
