Captions, June 24 -- 1) The bear, which was sighted by Mayor William Budesheim of Riverdale, New Jersey, is seen calmly crosing the street as the people stay indoors. 2) The young tusker, which was sighted by the citizens of Mysore, is seen running helter-skelter as the people are outdoors.
Wild animals straying into cities, towns and villages has become a common feature these days, thanks to denudation of forests, the flora and fauna are on the verge of extinction. Of late, Mysore city has witnessed straying of leopards and very recently even a pair of elephants too.
Citizens might well remember the havoc the young tusker created on its sojourn through the city streets on the dawn of June 8, 2011. The young elephant calf, which went on a rampage as early as 5.30 am, had claimed one person's life apart from damaging properties and injuring some persons, until it was tranquillised and trapped at the Dhobi Ghat in Saraswathipuram at around 9.30 am.
A similar incident of two bears entering into a small town in New Jersey was reported on June 20, 2011. Here we publish a small write-up by Jayanthi Amrutesh as a study in contrast to show how the local Police there had warned people to stay indoors when the beasts had strayed into the human habitat and the way the people there had complied with them and what action the Mysore Police had taken in controlling the frenzied crowd outdoors.
By Jayanthi Amrutesh
While we are still excited about the wild elephants sojourn through Mysore and saddened by the loss of life, we came across a stunning parallel 9,000 miles away in the small town of Metuchen, New Jersey.
As soon as we came in from our morning walk, we got emergency alert from the local Police warning us about 2 black bears on the loose and warning people to watch over children and pets.
What struck us is the systematic way in which people were warned to stay away from the bears, not to approach them or interact with them anyway; and willingness of the people to comply with them.
While one bear trotted off, the other ? believed to be a two-year-old cub ? was spotted around the north side of town climbing a tree in a resident's backyard.
As the excitement about bears on the run grew over the internet, one of the bear cubs took shelter on the top branch of a 100 ft. tall tree, not far from our neighbourhood.
Authorities had decided against using tranquillisers as the bear might fall down and hurt itself. "So now it's a waiting game. When he's hungry, he'll come down," an officer had said and the authorities decided to wait until nightfall to allow the bear to come down and find its way home in the nearby swamp. Last we heard the bear did just that.
[Jayanthi Amrutesh, a writer-musician and a resident of Saraswathipuram in Mysore, is presently camping in New Jersey at her son's place.]
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