Malkangiri: Forest officials Wednesday recovered the carcass of a bear inside a forest near Bhairav temple here.
According to onlookers, the bear, shunning its wild instincts, used to take fruit directly from the temple visitors after over 50 Aiyappa devotees had a stopover at the temple for a month in November last year. They fed the animal ‘Prasad’ while locals named the furry animal Ramu.
Assistant conservator of forest Srikant Nayak along with other personnel reached the spot and started an investigation into the animal’s death. The carcass has been preserved at the office of the divisional forest officer (DFO) and post-mortem would be conducted Thursday, officials said.
It is suspected that over eating might have caused the death of the animal. The bear had reportedly consumed plenty of coconut and banana left over by devotees during Mahashivratri festival Monday night. Several people thronged the site after the news spread. PNN