Bears have field day in the plains, experts baffled

MANAS R BANNERJEE, SNS, SILIGURI, 9 DECEMBER 2021: A 'bear menace' is presently stalking the Dooars region in north Bengal after forest officials rescued the animals from three different spots, while one bear was reportedly beaten to death in Meteli in Jalpaiguri recently.

People went into a panic mode in the Malbazar municipal area in Jalpaiguri today after they came to know that a bear cub had entered a house in Ward 11 .

According to forest squad members, it was a sub-adult Himalayan Black Bear, also known as the Asiatic Black Bear.

Forest staffers, who do not usually have the habit of trapping, rescuing and rehabilitating bears in the region, finally tranquilized the wild animal after relentless efforts for more than three hours today, and took it to the Neora Valley National Park for treatment, before releasing it in the forests again.

Locals, on the other hand, am still in fear as they feel family members of the cub could be around the area.

According to a senior citizen of the Dooars region, residents of that area have not seen the presence of a bear there in the last 20 years, though they have come across several other wild animals like elephant, gour and leopard.

"Just as I opened the door, I thought, at first sight, it was a wild boar. Later, I realized that the animal was a bear," said Biswanath Poddar, a local man who saw the animal first.

The Ranger of the Wildlife Squad, Dipen Subba, who was involved in the rescue operation of the bear, said that he did not have exact information from where bears have ventured into there on in the last few weeks.

Notably, the wildlife squad rescued three bears from the Alipurduar and Nagrakata areas recently and from Mal-bazaar today.

On the other hand, Nafsar Ali, an official associated with the Odlabari-based Nature Adventure Society (NAS), an environmental group, said: "The number of poachers inside the forest has increased, due to which wild animals are coming out of their habitat. Our guess is that the bears of the Himalayan Black Bear species are coming from from the Hills just as the Bhutan and Indian governments are building roads through the Hills."

However, Program Coordinator, Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation (FINAF), Animesh Bose, said: ' I have been speaking about recent presence of Asiatic Black Bear on the basis of guesses only, but we don't have exact information about the Schedule- I wild animal and the reasons behind their sudden presence in the plains, though their habitat is in the hilly regions and high altitudes like the Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary."

"It is high time we start investigating the exact reasons for their presence in the plains. When a bear was beaten to death at Meteli, which is very close to Bhutan, authorities need to find out whether their habitat was disturbed in any way in the pre-winter period. We need to find out the reasons behind the presence of a bear in Alipurduar area, which is also closed to the Buxa Tiger Reserve, another habitat for bears, before their 'hibernation.' Is there any crisis of food for them in their habitats before hibernation?," Mr Bose said, adding, "A video clip has gone viral, which shows a bear that came out of its habitat in the Tiger Hill (Darjeeling) area and entered a temple to eat."

He also said: "We suspect some family members of the animal have comedown to the plains. We are getting information about the presence of an adult mother bear in the Damdim tea plantation area after a sub-adult bear has been rescued from Malbazar area."

"A decade ago, people found a bear with three cubs in Kumargram area. But unfortunately, locals could not save the life of the cubs," Mr Bose said.