Nabarangpur: An elderly woman, who had gone missing two days ago, was found dead in a forest near Sindhiguda village under Nandahandi block in Nabarangpur district Thursday. She was allegedly mauled to death by bear.
Family members of the deceased, Gori Amanatya, 70, had been searching for her at all possible places since Tuesday. Some youngsters of the same village came upon the mutilated body under a sal tree when they went into the nearby forest. To their shock, they saw a female bear and her two cubs sitting near the body.
The boys ran from the spot and informed the villagers. A large number of residents then gathered and tried to drive the bear away, but they failed.
Later the forest department personnel reached the spot and burst fire crackers and shots into the air to drive the bear and her cubs away. Then the corpse was rescued. However, it is not known whether the animals had gorged on the corpse. Nabarangpur SP Nitin Kushalkar was also present at the spot.
Ranger Manoj Kumar Patra supervised the rescue operation of the corpse. “The forest department handed over Rs 20, 000 to the bereaved family immediately to carry out the last rites of the deceased. Later, the family will be compensated as per government rules,” informed Patra.
Alleging that the man-animal conflict is taking place on a regular basis since the district is full of jungles the villagers urged the administration to take measures to check it.
PNN
