After a struggle of several hours beginning on Monday evening and ending only early on Tuesday, officials of the Forest Department in Vaniyambadi and Ambur ranges, rescued a pair of sloth bears that had accidentally fallen into an abandoned, open farm well that had a small parapet wall. The bears, it is believed, were wandering in search of water around Arangaldurgam village near Vaniyambadi town in Tirupattur.
Officials of the Forest Department said around 5 p.m. on Monday, residents in the village heard bears grunting from the abandoned farm well in the neighbourhood, and immediately alerted the police and forest officials from Vaniyambadi range. A 15-member team of forest officials from Vaniyambadi and Ambur reached the spot. However, the rescue team found the operation challenging as the width of the farmwell was only seven feet. Also, the well, which was around 40 feet deep, had water in it for a depth of more than 20 feet.
“Both sloth bears are believed to be around seven years old and probably weigh over 40 kg each. As the circumference of the farm well was small, the rescue operation was challenging,” S. Elango, forest ranger officer (Vaniyambadi), told The Hindu.
With the help of an earthmover and a few palm trees from the neighbourhood, the team laid a trench and a ramp from the farm well to allow the animals to climb on to the wooden ramp. They managed to rescue one of the sloth bears from the well at around 8.30 p.m. on Monday. However, the other sloth bear, which had been injured after falling into the well, was unable to climb on to the ramp. After hours of struggle, the team managed to rescue the injured animal using a long rope at around 12.10 a.m on Tuesday. Both animals were released in the nearby Karapattu reserve forest (RF).
Forest officials said that as the district has been experiencing searing heat for the past few days with temperatures hovering between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius, the animals may have strayed into human habitation in search of water. Along with spotted deer or chital (Axis deer), sloth bear are also found in sizable numbers in reserve forests in Yelagiri Hills, Alangayam, Tirupattur town, Natrampalli, Kandhili, Jolarpet, and Vaniyambadi as these forest areas are extensions of the Jawadhu Hills.
Tuesday’s incident comes a few months after a four-year-old sloth bear was rescued from nearby Kottur village near Jolarpettai.
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