Two killed, one injured in bear attack in Srikakulam

Srikakulam: Two persons were killed and one seriously injured when a sloth bear attacked them while they were working in a cashew garden at Anakapalli village in Srikakulam district on Saturday, a district forest officer said.

Srikakulam DFO Nisha Kumari said the attack happened in Kasibugga range of Srikakulam Forest Division.

“In an unfortunate incident of an attack by a sloth bear in a cashew garden in Anakapalli village of Vajrapukotturu mandal in Kasibugga Range of Srikakulam Forest division, two persons died and one person was seriously injured,” Kumari told.

She noted that the injured person had been shifted to the government hospital in Palasa for treatment.

The DFO said compensation will be paid to the kin of the deceased and injured person, along with medical expenses as per norms.

According to Kumari, the Forest Department is ‘regularly’ taking steps to avoid human-animal conflict by creating awareness among the villagers, including ‘alerting’ them to avoid areas where sloth bear movement is reported.

Further, she said that a dedicated team under sub-divisional forest officer, Tekkali, is being constituted to continuously monitor sloth bear movement.

Kumari said mass awareness programmes will be intensified till cashew collection season ends.

On February 1, four persons were injured in a bear attack at Vajrapukotturu village. A female bear with cubs attacked them and later vanished into a cashew orchard.