Guj: Three injured in sloth bear attacks in Banaskantha district

Three persons were injured in attacks by sloth bears at Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in the last five days, an official said on Saturday.

The forest department has increased night patrolling and cautioned locals against venturing out in the night to prevent such attacks, the official said.

In the latest incident, a tribal farmer was attacked by a sloth bear at Vera village in the sanctuary on Friday night, said Shaktisinh Parmar, range forest officer of Iqbalgarh.

Similarly, another farmer from Vera was attacked five days ago, and had to undergo surgery at a hospital in Palanpur, while a temple priest at Savaniya village was attacked after he woke up to a noise at night to encounter a bear. He has been referred to a hospital in Ahmedabad, the official said.

Sloth bears tend to wander into human settlements this time of the year in search of mahua and mangoes, Parmar said.

As per a 2016 estimate, there are 342 sloth bears in Gujarat, mainly found in Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Chhota Udepur, Panchmahal, Vadodara, Dahod districts etc.

Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary is situated 45 km from the district headquarters Palanpur and is spread over 181 sq km. It was established in 1978 to preserve the flora and fauna of the Aravali ecosystem.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)