Palanpur: The experts of Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University in Banaskantha district will conduct post mortem of the killer female sloth bear which had killed 3 people in last four days near Kansa village situated in Balaram Ambaji Wildlife Sanctuary and was shot dead today, to ascertain as to whether it was a ‘man eater’ or not, Assistant Conservator of Forest I A Nagori, who was part of the failed rescue operation during which the beast was eliminated, said.

He informed that the forest department team would also launch and extensive operation in the area where the beast was killed to see if any dead or injured cub of it were present in the vicinity.

Before the elimination of the beast it was rightly presumed that it must be a female on the basis of assumption that such violent behaviour was exhibited by female beasts only when they were forcefully parted from their cubs or any attack on their off-springs.

Mr Nagori said that he was present when the beast was shot dead. Narrating the sequence of event he said that after the failed operation to track the beast which had killed 3 persons including a forester and injured five with 3 of them being forest department men, during the morning session of the rescue operation in which police and a team of wild animal rescue experts from capital Gandhinagar were also present, special trap cameras were being kept to track the beast during night.

‘We had put one camera close to the place where the attacks had happened and were trying to put the second one at a distance of around 15 meters from the first spot near a water source when the beast suddenly came out of a bush and tried to attack the three men involved in fitting of the camera which can take the images of the objects crossing before it even in the dark. Looking at it the team with tranquilizing guns tried to fire shots at the beast but the target failed. In the meantime it started moving towards the second team standing at a higher rock nearby. The beast was very violent and we were left with no other option but to fire gun shots at it. The shooters of police fired at around 5 pm and it died on the spot,’ the ACF said adding that in the primary search around the spot no bear cub was found and the search will continue tomorrow.

Notably the bear, attacked and killed a villager from Khapra, Bhikhabhai Bhagora (35) who had gone to graze his goats in the nearby jungles in Kansa on March 12. On the next day ie March 13 another person Manabhai Angari (26) of the same village was killed in bear attack in which two others injured while they were looking out for missing Bhikhabhai. Yesterday forester R H Patni (56) was killed in bear attack in which three other forest department employees injured during its search operation. The incident took place around Kansa and adjoining areas under Danta Taluka in the Balaram Ambaji Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a home to over 100 such bears. The forest is spread in over 500 square km. The places of occurrence were situated inside the sanctuary in which many tribal villages are located.

A massive operation with the involvement of shooters of district police,wildlife experts, commandos and forest department teams was launched in the area to nab or eliminate the beast.

The ACF said that it was for the first time that human beings have been killed in attack by a bear in the area. ‘That’s why a special post mortem by experts of Dantiwada Agricuture university situated around 30 km from Palanpur has been necessitated. It would be checked whether after killing or during the attack it consumed human flesh or not,’ he said.