Shivamogga: Forest department officials Monday captured an eight-year-old female sloth bear that had travelled nearly 50km in 24 hours, straying through residential areas before entering the premises of Shivamogga’s Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Airport at Sogane village.The bear was later moved to an observation cell at Shivamogga Zoo, where it was reported to be stable. Sources told TOI the GPS-collared animal, which had been translocated to the Bhadra wildlife division on March 27 after it was captured near the JSW factory in Toranagallu, Vijayanagara district, broke free and surprisingly began its long trek back towards human habitation. Officials, however, declined to confirm its origin. Before entering the airport’s compound, the bear was spotted in Vinayaka Nagar and Jyoti Nagar, where residents filmed it wandering through gardens and private properties, triggering concern, though it caused no harm. As forest department personnel from the Umblebailu and Lakkavalli ranges tried to track it, the bear reportedly leapt over the airport’s perimeter wall and took refuge in dense vegetation along the compound’s edge. A veterinarian eventually tranquilised it in the presence of DCF (Bhadravathi Division) B M Ravindra Kumar and Bhadra Tiger Reserve director Pulkit Meena.
