Baby sloth bear rescued from barbed wire fence in MP

New Delhi/Bhopal, March 5 A one-and-a-half-year old sloth bear, that was found entwined in a barbed wire fence, has been rescued by a multi-agency team from the outskirts of village in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district.

Early on Friday morning, the sloth bear cub was found in a perilous condition as it was caught in the barbed wire fence surrounding a sugar cane farm in the Chiklod forest range located in Raisen district. Local farmers heard its painful cries and immediately contacted the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department.

A joint team from Wildlife SOS and Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal drove nearly 45 km to reach the site, a release from Wildlife SOS said on Saturday.

"After a quick assessment of the situation, Wildlife SOS veterinary officer Rajat Kulkarni immobilised the bear cub it was found to be a female so the team could carefully separate the entangled fur from the barbed wire. This was followed by an on-site medical examination by Gurudutt Sharma from the Satpura Tiger Reserve, and Prashant Deshmukh from the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT)," the release said.

Fortunately, the baby bear did not sustain any injuries and was fit to return to the wild. The mother bear was sighted in the vicinity so the team released the cub back in the same area, so she could reunite with her mother.

Animals such as wild boar, nilgai and sloth bear often venture out to the villages bordering the forest in search of fruits and berries. The villagers, to prevent the animals from consuming and damaging their crops, often install barbed wire fences around their plantations.

Co-Founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS, Kartick Satyanarayan, said, "Barbed wire fences and traps such as snares are human-created threats to wildlife and thousands of animals fall victim to these barbaric devices every year."