Sloth bear rescued from poacher’s snare in Karnataka

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) A wild sloth bear was rescuedfrom a poacher’s snare in Koratagere village of Karnatakafollowing a two-hour-long operation by a wildlife body. The locals found the animal with a wire trap intertwinedaround its waist and reported the incident to the forestdepartment, Wildlife SoS said. A six-member rescue team along with a Range ForestOfficer rushed to the location and rescued the approximately 4to 5-year-old female sloth bear which was trapped for nearly15 hours, it said, adding the trap was made of a modifiedclutch wire, reinforced with a fence wire. "We are extremely fortunate that the bear did not sustainany severe injuries and it was able to safely return to itsnatural habitat," Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of WildlifeSOS said. "Snares are one of the cruellest human-created threats towildlife and it is distressing to imagine the millions ofanimals that fall victim to these barbaric devices every year.Only a small percentage of these animals survive the horrorsof these deadly traps. Deaths of a majority of the victims ofpoaching go undocumented," Satyanarayan said. Over the years, the population of sloth bears in the wildhas been threatened due to loss of habitat and poaching,making them a vulnerable species in the IUCN Red Data List. Animals caught in snares and traps often struggle forhours, in some cases even days before succumbing to thirst,hunger, strangulation, internal injuries and even predationfrom carnivores. PTI TDS NSD RGNSD