A rescue team battled for hours to rescue a sloth bear caught in a primitive snare at Chikkaballapur forest in South India.

The deadly snare had twisted tightly around the neck, choking the bear to the brink of death.

The snare had been set by a local hunter to trap a boar but had ended up catching a sloth bear, an endangered species, with just 8,000 to 10,000 surviving members.

Local forest officials called a Wildlife SOS team to rescue the animal after spotting it the snare outside a cashew nut plantation on November 17.

The bear’s futile attempts to break free had resulted in the snare tightening its grip around the bear’s neck, causing it to suffocate.

The snare cables had further coiled around a branch making it difficult for the bear to even move.

The rescue team tranquilized the traumatised bear and worked for hours to gently extricate it from the metal wires that had cut into its flesh.

They shifted the animal to a nearby bear rescue centre for a more detailed examination. However, after four hours the bear succumbed from to its injuries.

Postmortem examination revealed that the bear had sustained tracheal damage due to tight snare and had suffocated.

Kartick Satyanarayan, CEO of Wildlife SOS said: “This is the third incident this week where a sloth bear has been found trapped in a poacher’s snare and such incidents are occurring more and more frequently in Karnataka.”

Every year hundreds of wild animals – from rabbits to even tigers – succumb to traps and explosive baits in India and the deaths of a majority of these victims of go undocumented.

A rescue team battled for hours to rescue a sloth bear caught in a primitive snare at Chikkaballapur forest in South India.
The deadly snare had twisted tightly around the neck, choking the bear to the brink of death.
The primate snare had been set up by a local hunter to trap a boar but had ended up catching a sloth bear, a vulnerable species, with just 8,000 to 10,000 surviving members.
Local forest officials called a Wildlife SOS team to rescue the animal after spotting it in a snare outside a cashew nut plantation on November 17.
The bear’s futile attempts to break free had resulted in the snare tightening its grip around the bear’s neck, causing it to suffocate.
The snare cables had further coiled around a branch making it difficult for the bear to even move.
The rescue team tranquilized the traumatized bear and worked for hours to gently extricate it from the metal wires that had cut into its flesh.
They shifted the animal to a nearby bear rescue center for a more detailed examination. However, after four hours the bear succumbed from to its injuries.
Postmortem examination revealed that the bear had sustained tracheal damage due to tight snare and had suffocated.
Kartick Satyanarayan, CEO of Wildlife SOS said: “This is the third incident this week where a sloth bear has been found trapped in a poacher’s snare and such incidents are occurring more and more frequently in Karnataka.”
Every year hundreds of wild animals – from rabbits to even tigers – succumb to traps and explosive baits in India and the deaths of a majority of these victims of go undocumented.