Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Bear rescued; four arrested

Special Correspondent

Freed: The bear that was rescued by Forest Department officials in Gulbarga city on Thursday.

GULBARGA: Forest Department personnel on Thursday saved a four-year-old bear from the clutches of traditional tamers from Hali Haidar village in Gangavathi taluk of Koppal district. The animal has been kept in the mini-zoo in Gulbarga city here.

Acting on a tip-off from a journalist that the tamers were using the bear for collecting money from the public in Super Market area, the department officials arrested four persons and seized the animal from them.

Deputy Conservator of Forest (Territorial Forest) Radhabai, who supervised the operations, said that cases under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, would be booked against the four and they would be charged under Section 40 of the Act that prohibits taming of any wild animal.

The bear comes under Schedule 1 of wild animals.

The arrested have been identified as Imam Sab, Raja Sab, Mehboob Sab and Imam Sab of Hali Haidar. They claimed that the animal had been reared in their house. “This is our traditional occupation,” they said.

The arrested will be produced before a magistrate on Friday.

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