A wild sloth bear being chased away by forest department and local residents entered in fear at a Government school lahdi village of Korea district on Saturday morning which set off panic among dozens of students.
But luckily no one was hurt, as the students, teachers and other people who were present in the school made loud noises that forced the bear to move away from school, forest department officials told The Pioneer.
“We were chasing the wild bear since August 25,” Conservator of Forest, Surguja Circle KK Bisen said.
He informed that the bear was spotted near Chhote Bazar area on Saturday morning. The forest officials then shot it with a tranquiliser dart.
“As soon as locals saw the wild bear, they gathered around the spot in huge number. The bear, that had been shot getting disturbed by the crowd ran and entered in the school nearby. However, it soon came out of the school and disappeared in the jungle nearby,” Bisen said while adding that no one was hurt in school.
According to the officer, the bear was shot twice with a tranquiliser but it has taken refuge in dense forest area and as darkness descended searching had to be stopped. They forest officials will resume bear hunt from Sunday morning.
Notably, two villagers were killed and five others, including three police jawans, were injured when a wild bear had attacked them in Baikunthpur forest range of Koria district on August 25.
The deceased were identified as Banshdhari (60), native of Madanpur village, and Sushant Sahu (36) of Gelhapani. The bear, which was hiding in the bush, first attacked Sushant, who was going somewhere on foot close to the village, and dragged him inside forest. On seeing him in trouble, Banshidhar who had been there to graze goats tried to save Sushant but he was also mauled to death by the wild animal.
On getting information about the incident, villagers rushed to the spot and informed police. In the struggle to chase the bear away, two villagers and three police personnel sustained injuries. However, the wild animal had abandoned the bodies and ran away from the spot after police fired gunshots in the air.