Jharsuguda: A sloth bear was rescued from the abandoned quarter of Jharsuguda Sub – Jail colony in OMP Area of Jharsuguda, on Thursday. The operation started since morning and lasted for more than seven hours before the animal was finally captured in a cage at afternoon.
As per the sources, the bear was first spotted by some local resident at early morning near the Amlipali area near Jharsuguda Sub-Jail and had informed the forest officials, the Jharsuguda officials had tried to capture the bear through Net but they were unsuccessful. Meanwhile in fear of getting caught the bear had entered into one of the abandoned quarter of Jharsuguda Sub-Jail colony and had taken shelter inside it.
After the joint operation led by Sambalpur & Jharsuguda Forest range officials, they had laid a trap and with the help of scaring technique by the forest officials, they had managed to rescue the Bear.
Wildlife Activist Ashish Shukla, who was also present during the rescue operation, claimed that these sloth bear are found in nearby Jungle and it might have lost its way while searching food and water and have entered into the habitat zone. When all the efforts to scare the animal away had failed, forest officials decided to capture the bear after it had entered inside the abandoned quarter.
Hundreds of local citizens watched from their rooftops as the rescue workers toiled hard to capture the animal since morning. DFO Jharsuguda forest division, Sushant Kumar supervised the rescue operation.
“We got information about a bear who has been spotted near Jharsuguda Sub Jail at around 7 O’clock. By the help of Jharsuguda & Sambalpur forest officials and  Jharsuguda Police, we were able to finally capture this bear successfully. The bear will be provided with medical examined and then would be released into the forest. ” said Jharsuguda DFO Sushant Kumar
