BANGALORE (PTI): Love for Sugarcane of some 200 odd hungry wild bears is spreading bitterness among people of Daroj village in southern India, who have been forced to stop cultivation of the profitable crop.
Nearly 700 acres in Daroji in Kamataka state’s Bellary district was till recently under sugarcane but now less than 75 acres is under cane cultivation, the state’s chief wildlife warden M.K.Appayya said.
He ‘said a sugar factor at Kambli village is on the verge of closure because the marauding animals had depleted the sugarcane crop.
“Alternative crops like paddy and Colton have been taken up, but the farmers are not happy with the returns,” Appayys said.
A bear sanctuary was proposed to be set up at Daroji a couple of years ago. Environmentalists thought that the proposed sanctuary, being in the vicinity of the famous Hamper mains, would be a tourist attraction, but no action has been taken so far The villagers had complained that
becanse of the ‘bearmenace, they had been unable to repay loans they had availed of; they want the forest department to capture the bears and have threatened to shoot the animals if the government failed to help. “Only translocation will solve the problem.” The bears have to be tranquilized and shifted to parks or sanctuaries where sufficient food is available, say authorities.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 10, 1993
