Sloth bear sanctuary proposal gathers dust

The increasing number of man-sloth bear conflict cases reported from Thimlapura reserve forest area is pointing at one necessity —to speed up a decade-old proposal to declare as a sloth bear sanctuary, say conversationalists.

“So far no census has been done in the area, but we can safely say that the forest houses over 200 sloth bears,” said TVN Murthy, honorary wildlife warden, Tumkur district.
“The area is mentioned in the gazette as Maddagiri state forest, spread across 32 square kilometers. But the forest has shrunk in size,” he added.

The forest is surrounded by more than ten villages. “At least  one man-bear conflict case is reported in 15 days here,” said Murthy. “On March 22, 1999, a letter was handed over to the principal chief conservator of forests requesting speeding up the procedures to declare the forest as a sloth bear sanctuary. But nothing has been done so far,” he added.

However when DNA contacted the forest department officials, they said that they had not received any proposals. “But we are keen to revive the plan to declare the reserve forest a sanctuary,” said one official.
 
“The main commercial crop in the area is jackfruit, which is also the favourite food of the  bears. They  come to the village to feed on these fruits. Many bears died after trapped in the cable-wired jaw trap laid by farmers to protect their crop from them,” said one villager.