OOTY: The movement of wild bears in fields and human settlements in the Kotagiri limits near here has scared residents.
While the escalating man-animal conflict in the Gudalur belt on the western parts of the Nilgiris has forced the district administration here to issue a statement on the need to exercise precautionary measures to manage the conflict, in the Kotagiri slopes on the eastern part of the Nilgiris, the wild sloth bear menace has turned residents there panic-stricken.
A wild bear strayed into the tea gardens and nearby fields in the Moonu road area in Aravenu and Halakarai village limits in the Kotagiri slopes in the past couple of days.
Residents in the Moonu road area recall how a bear straying in played havoc with the life of a couple in the Kotagiri area a couple of years ago and the injuries the bear inflicted even on foresters during the occasion. The residents there want an immediate plan of action from the foresters to place cages to capture and relocate the wild bear.
Anatharaman, a resident there said, “because of the wild bear menace, farm workers are in constant fear and reluctant to move to the fields for regular work. Children who go to school from the village are certainly at risk.”
This is also the case in Halakarai village limits as the movement of a bear along the Coonoor-Halakarai-Kotagiri road has become nightmarish both for motorists, other travelers and villagers.
