Heartbreak over cub confiscation

by amyjudd | June 25, 2008 at 01:22 pm | 327 views | 6 comments

by binodsingh2007

A tribal man in India rescued an abandoned bear cub for his daughter to help her overcome her mother's death, but has now had the cub taken away from him by forestry officials because he is breaking the rules.

They confiscated the animal arguing that its capture was in contravention of wildlife laws.

As a result, Ramesh Munda, 35, was briefly jailed and the bear was sent to a zoo where some reports say it has refused to eat.

His daughter is now distraught over the loss of a "much-loved" family friend.

Mutual affection

Mr Munda, who is also known as Ram Singh, rescued Rani almost two years ago from the dense forest of Keonjhar in the eastern state of Orissa.

From the moment the cub was recovered, both man and animal appeared to develop an unusual bond of love.

Such was the level of affection between the bear and Mr Munda's family, that the local press began to write stories about this rare example of mutual affection.

But Orissa forestry department officials were not so sentimental.

Keonjhar district forest officials arrested and jailed him under the Wildlife Protection Act and sent Rani to Nandankanan Zoological Park.

Now both man and animal are pining to be reunited, with the bear reportedly refusing to eat any food.

I feel saddened by this story and I think the zoo should just return the cub to the man and his daughter. I mean, if they are ok with it, and the cub is not hurting anyone, what is the harm in it? I hope this story has a happy ending.

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julianw

at 13:33 on June 25th, 2008

Nice post Amy. Usually when I see headlines with words like "heartbreak" I think journalists are trying to add drama, but this story actually broke my heart.

amyjudd

at 14:07 on June 25th, 2008

Awww, thanks for the nice comment Julian!

yuls.source

at 13:49 on June 25th, 2008

My personal belief is that bears (especially cubs) do not belong in either people's homes or zoos. They belong in nature. No matter how much of an affection the cub and this family developed for each other, the bear is a wild animal and eventually his animal instincts would have taken over, potentially leading to unwanted consequences.

familiar stranger

at 00:18 on June 26th, 2008

It is actually a difficult decision!

Rules say you can't keep wild animal in captivity, but this is a special case.

Click here to see this interesting video of this Bear having with this man and his daughter....Bear even rides the bicycle!

Zoo authorities are considering the potential danger from the Bear; but the keeper of the Bear is not subscribing to it. I have heard that the Bear has stopped eating food at Zoo. Click here to see the affection of bear and his so called parents!

But, I do agree....sometimes, Emotions win over rules!