MOON BEAR KILLING : ARRESTS MADE

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1874731,000600030010.htm Four

arrested for killing black bear in J & K

 

*Rashid Ahmad*

 

Srinagar, December 20, 2006

 

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Police, on Wednesday, arrested four persons in Tral quarter of southern

Pulwama district in connection with the killing of a black bear. The arrests

have triggered massive protest demonstrations and general shutdown.

 

Wildlife officials say that a black bear had strayed into Mandora village of

Tral on November 17 and a frenzied mob beat him to death. TV images,

telecast by a news channel on December 15, showed a mob beating the bear

with lathis and stones. They also sprinkled kerosene oil on him and burnt

him alive.

 

" It is a serious matter, and the persons responsible for the killing of the

black bear will be dealt with strictly " , said a local police officer. The

killing of wild animals is prohibited under Wildlife Protection Act in Jammu

and Kashmir.

 

Hundreds of residents took to streets on Wednesday and held protest

demonstrations against the arrests. They said that the black bear had

terrorised the residents by attacking them. They said that 70-year Abdul

Gani Rather of Shariefabad village was attacked and brutally injured by a

black bear earlier, who later died in the hospital. Incidentally, one of the

four persons arrested in connection with the killing of the black bear

includes Rather's son Wali Mohammad.

 

" When his (Wali's) father was killed by the black bear, nobody took note of

it. But on Wednesday he was arrested for killing the black bear. What kind

of law is it, which takes care of wild animals and not humans " , said Ghulam

Nabbi Bhat, a relative of Rather.

 

The residents said that they had captured the black bear and locked him in a

shed for over 12 hours. " We informed the Wildlife Protection Department but

they did not turn up. The bear in the meanwhile escaped, and people in panic

chased and killed him " , said another resident Mohammad Subhan Rather.

 

A senior officer in the Wildlife department said that they have taken note

of resident's claim and have removed four officials, including a range

officer, from their posts. He said that an enquiry by principal conservator

of forests has been initiated.

 

Wild bears entered populated areas in many parts of Kupwara, Baramullah,

Anantnag and Pulwama this year. As many as three persons including a minor

child were killed and over 30 wounded in the attacks by them on residents.

Last month, a bear snatched a child, whose body was recovered the next

morning from a nearby field. A woman in Kondabal village, around 27 km from

Srinagar, was also attacked by a wild bear, who succumbed to injuries at a

hospital.

 

Wildlife officials say that there had been a substantial increase in wild

animal population in Jammu and Kashmir as poaching and hunting has stopped

in Kashmir with the rise of terrorism. They say that the human interference

in the wild animal habitat has also increased and many forested areas have

been denuded, which forced the wild animals to stray into villages.