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Missing black bear of Delhi Zoo spotted after two months

Staff Reporter

Had disappeared into one of the tunnels in the enclosure which is quite normal in the case of this species

NEW DELHI: It's official. The "missing" female Himalayan black bear at Delhi zoo has finally been spotted. Alive and well, the bear was captured on closed-circuit television cameras installed at the entrance of the cave on April 23, putting to rest all speculations about the animal having escaped from the enclosure or died.

The bear had not been spotted in its enclosure since February 22. According to zoo officials, the bear had only disappeared into one of the tunnels in the enclosed space that she shared with one male and two other females.

"This is a quite normal in the case of this species. This female bear mated with the lone male in her enclosure in the last week of May last year. The normal gestation period for a Himalayan black bear is around seven months. However, experts have opined that there are records of delayed implant in the case of the bear. Also, if the female bear had died, either foul smell or flies would have been there, but nothing of the kind was noticed in her enclosure," said zoo director D.N. Singh.

He said this was not the first time in Delhi zoo that a bear had opted to stay in a cave for a long duration of time. "We have recording of this behaviour in 1968, 2004 and 2005. Therefore, as far as the zoo history is concerned, it is a normal phenomenon for a bear to go inside the cave and stay there," said Mr. Singh.

Speaking about how the zoo authorities managed to capture the animal on CCTV, Mr. Singh said: "The keeper of the enclosure, head keeper and zoo rangers were alerted to keep feed for the animal everyday at the entrance of the cave. Finally on April 23 it was found that the bear has consumed the feed kept at the entrance. Consequently attempts were made to record the presence of the bear indirectly when it comes out to consume the feed. The result of such an attempt is the video of the bear coming out for food."

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