Man mauled to death by bear in Nabarangpur

Nabarangpur: A man was mauled to death by a sloth bear near a village forest at Pharsaguda under Kodinga GP in the district on Wednesday.

Sources said one Prabhu Bhatra, a truck driver of Daleiguda in Papadahandi block was dragged away by a sloth bear while he was attending nature's call after getting down from his vehicle.

A video taken by some locals capturing the entire ordeal showed a fierce hand-to-claw combat between the animal and Bhatra.

Even though some of bystanders attacked and tried to ward off the animal, the latter continued to attack Bhatra which reportedly led to his death on the spot.

Since the bear waited beside the deceased Bhatra for some time, his dead body could not be recovered. The wild animal had to be tranquilized by Nabaragpur Forest Division officials in order to recover the body.

An amount of Rs 30,000 was paid to Bhatra's family for performing his last rites.

Meanwhile, tension prevailed in the area as locals staged a road blockade demanding ex-gratia for the kin of the deceased. Forest officials have assured to pay the compensation within 15 days but are yet to comment anything on the incident.

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It is to be noted that bear-animal conflicts have become quite frequent recently. This is the second such incident of bear attack in last five days. Tension prevailed after a sloth bear killed a man and injured another at Hudi sahi cashew plantation area under Korei police limits in Jajpur district on Sunday while earlier on April 2, three persons were killed and seven others critically injured in a bear attack in Keonjhar.