Sloth bear falls into dry well, rescued after 15 hrs

Bhubaneswar: A sloth bear, that fell into a dry well in Kaptipada under Baripada forest division on Sunday, was rescued using a ladder after close to 15 hours of operation. The bear walked on its own into nearby forest, forest officials confirmed.Forest department personnel faced tough time rescuing it as crowds gathered near the spot. “After the crow began to thin after 8 pm, we put the ladder. With little effort, the bear came out at 9.15 pm. It had fallen in the well at 6 am. We are keept a close watch it through out,” divisional forest officer (Baripada) Gobinda Chandra Biswal said.The sloth bear strayed into the village area from a nearby forest and fell into the well early on Sunday.It was an adult bear and there was no report of it harming any individual while straying into human settlement. “We didn't other have take help of tranquilisation. When came out of well, it looked perfectly agile. It had eaten something early on Sunday. Second, was not a case of an errant animal that needs to be darted,” Biswal added.“Sloth bears as such can’t run fast. Once people left the area, we installed a ladder, with which, it came out and walked back on its own to the forest,” he said.Besides a ladder, forest department personnel had kept a cage, flashlight, food and a net for any eventuality that occurs while rescuing. Forest personnel were also ready with the net to capture it if it tried to run further into human habitation or became aggressive.