Bear mauls four in Chichpalli forest

Chandrapur: Four shepherds were injured in two separate incidents of bear attack in adjoining Chichpalli territorial range and FDCM Chichpalli range on Saturday. Forest officials have concluded that the same bear was involved in both the attacks as the area where the attack took place falls in the neighbouring compartments of two ranges.
Official sources said that shepherds Vilas Pendor and Sitaram Madavi, both from village Satara Tukum, had taken their herd to compartment number 436 of Chichpalli territorial forest range in the morning. A sloth bear present in the area attacked both the shepherds, injuring them seriously. They somehow managed to scare the bear away to save their lives.
The same bear then targeted another pair of shepherds, namely Prafull Sidam and Rupesh Kulmethe, in compartment number 435 of Chichpalli FDCM range after a couple of hours. Both the shepherds were critically injured in the attack.
Foresters of the both the ranges rushed to the spot and took the injured shepherds to Chandrapur civil hospital for treatment. Officials claimed that two of them are critically injured and battling for their lives.
The forest department has sounded an alert in the area following the incident and has warned the people against going into the forest where the marauding bear is present. The department has also increased patrolling in the area and installed camera traps to identify the problem bear. Sources said that yet another shepherd was injured in a bear attack around 12 days back in the same area.