Ponda: A team of officials from Ponda range forest office and Bondla Wild Life Sanctuary, rescued a full grown male bison (Gaur) trapped in a rope snare at Tamxollem area of Betki Khandola village in a two-day operation.
The rescued bison is weighing around a tonne and considering the size of the animal, the rescue team could not release the animal on Saturday and the rescue operation got extended till Sunday. The operation was undertaken in a phased manner with systematic tranquilization method, said RFO Deepak Betquekar while speaking to this daily.
As per information the gaur was trapped in a rope snare at a farm area at Tamxollem. Locals spotted the gaur on Saturday afternoon and informed the forest department.
The officials said that the bison was in distress with a forelimb injury and all precautions were taken by the team for the safety of the animal as well as the people.
The bison was rescued with tranquilization and without causing any further injury to the wild animal or to local residents during the rescue.
The rescue team consisted of assistant conservator of forest Anand Jadhav RFO Deepak Betquekar, RFO Ponda, Dr Sidesh Naik RFO Bondla Dr Loveleen Vaz and rescue team members Akshay Gauns, Alisahab Shaikh, Arjun Gawas, Deu Shetkar, Pramod Malik, Sachin Sawant and others.