Mother bear succumbs to injuries in Mansehra

MANSEHRA: A black bear, allegedly shot and seriously injured by poachers to take away her two minor offspring at the mountainous Bugermung area of Siran valley, succumbed to her injuries at the Dhodial Pheasantry, officials said on Thursday.

“We have launched an inquiry to trace and arrest poachers who fired upon the beast and left her seriously injured and took her two minor kids away,” Mohammad Ashraf, the deputy range officer of the Wildlife Department Shinkiari/ Siran range, told reporters.

A group of illegal hunters had fired upon and seriously injured a black bear on Thursday and decamped with her two minor cubs.According to eyewitnesses, the lactating bear had come down either from neighbouring high-altitude Shaheed Pani or Kund-Salbori forests along with her two minor cubs, 3 to 4 months of age, in search of food but was fired upon by the poachers.

“This is an inhuman act. They should be taken to justice,” Moon Khan Swati, a local, who informed the Wildlife Department about the presence of the injured bear, told reporters.He said the Wildlife Department officials had shifted the seriously injured bear to the Dhodial Pheasantry where she succumbed to injuries.

“The local community is perturbed by this gruesome incident. We have asked the Wildlife Department officials, who have frequently been visiting the crime scene to arrest and seize the stolen cubs, to immediately round up the gangsters, or else we will file a complaint with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief secretary and other officials concerned,” Swati said.

He added that the Wildlife Department’s officials, who reached the scene to capture and take away the seriously injured bear that had received four bullets at parts of the body, didn’t have any modern gadgets or nets to complete the entire operation.

Deputy Range Officer Mohammad Ashraf said that his department’s team was active in the area and would ensure the recovery of stolen cubs from poachers and take them to justice under strict Wildlife laws.

“When our team had rushed to seize the injured bar, he attempted to sneak into a cave in her protection but we captured and shifted her to the Dhodial Pheasantry where she succumbed to her injuries,” he added.