Sloth bear found dead in a farm near Kadayam

A female sloth bear was found dead in a farm at Keezha Ambur near Kadayam on Wednesday.

According to Deputy Director of Kalakkad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve’s Ambasamudram Division M. Ilaiyaraja, farmer P. Durai Ravikumaran of Papanasam Kudil, who has his farm at Keezha Ambur on the periphery of Kadayam Reserve Forest Range, found a sloth bear dead in his ranch on Tuesday around 6 p.m. As he informed Mr. Ilaiyaraja, a team of Forest department personnel arrived at the spot.

The team inspected the site and the carcass to find that the aged female sloth bear had died after mating.

Subsequently, the forest veterinarian Manoharan and his team conducted the post-mortem on Wednesday in the presence of Mr. Ilaiyaraja and sent the viscera for analysis. The body parts of the sloth bear were incinerated after the autopsy in the presence of the Deputy Director.

Since sloth bears have been spotted at Manimuthar, Ayan Singampatti and Weavers’ Colony, Mr. Ilaiyaraja and his team visited these areas on Wednesday night. The dumping of waste might have attracted the wild animal towards these villages, the forest personnel said. “We’ve deployed a patrol team in these areas to monitor the movement of the sloth bear and requested the villagers not to come-out in the night,” Mr. Ilaiyaraja said.