The Bhutanese Leading the way.
After finding a female Himalayan Black bear trapped in a snare meant for wild boars, the farmers in Chapcha under Chukha alerted their forest range office of the trapped bear. The farmers had set snares to entrap wild animals that damage their crops during the night.
The officials from the Wildlife Rescue and Animal Section of Wildlife Conservation Division (WCD) rescued the two-year old Himalayan Black bear trapped in a maize field. They tranquilized the bear to reduce the stress as the bear was caught in the trap for more than an hour.
The officials also took measurements of the bear while it was sedated. The female Himalayan Black bear weighed about 62 kilograms and measured 116 cm long.
The officials also extracted the blood samples and parasites for laboratory testing to reveal the health condition of the bear. According to the officials, no physical injuries were found on the bear and the bear appeared fit enough to be released back to the forest. Therefore, the bear was transported in an iron crate and released back to her natural habitat.
In a similar case, the officials with the Wildlife Rescue and Animal Health Section under Wildlife Conservation Division, Department of Forest and Park Services (DoFPS) have rescued a male common leopard from Thongjhazur village under Saprang on October 20.
The forest officer with the Royal Manas National Park was informed of the trapped leopard by villagers who were conducting a community forestry boundary survey. The villagers had set the traps about 80 meters away from the village to guard their cultivated lands from crop raiding wild animals.
The officials have been responding proactively to such calls and alerts and were able to rescue many of the injured wildlife. But in a few cases, the rescue came in a little too late or the injury was too grave for the animals to survive.
The number of wildlife coming in direct confrontation with humans and their pets are on the rise. The growing human population, degeneration of wildlife habitats, lack of food, and wildlife fleeing from predators are some of the factors that force the wildlife to move from their particular habitat.
