Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to the Central Indian state
of Madhya Pradesh to the tropical jungle of Panna National Park forest near the Khermai
temple. The land consists of low hills, extended plateaus and river valleys. The forest is
crowded with Golden Apple Trees, Indian lilac bushes, and wild turmeric as well as Chironji
which is an almond flavored seed used in cooking. Madhya Pradesh is the largest Indian state
and is the 5th largest in population in the nation. Approximately 33% of the land here
is forested. With the brush and forests you might see Tiger, chital, chinkara, sambar,
leopard, bison (gour), wild boar, wild dog, blackbuck, fox, porcupine, flying squirrel,
mouse deer, Indian giant squirrel, and sloth bear.
An interesting thing about Sloth Bears is that they are about the same size as an American
Black Bear weighing between 200 to 300 pounds. Nearly 90% of their diet is from tropical
fruit they find in the jungles and there is no shortage of that. They also eat honey and
insects. Another interesting thing about Sloth bears is that they are the most aggressive
bears toward humans and they have attacked more people than any other species. Scholars
say that the sloth bears behave the same way when they see a human as when they see a large
predator like a tiger or leopards. At 6:30 Am on June 5th, 2022, 43 year old
Mukesh Rai and his 39 year old bride, Gudiya Rai were walking home from visiting the Khermai
Temple for morning prayers. They were nearly at their house, having only about ¾ of a
mile left in their journey when they came across a sloth bear.
The sloth bear as a species is known for its unpredictability, but this one seemed very
strange, even angry. It approached the couple and immediately pulled Gudiya to ground and
began mauling and clawing her. The bear was very quick and focused on killing bites to
the neck of the woman. Her husband, Mukesh ran over and began hitting and kicking the
bear, trying to scare it away from his wife. The bear spun on its heels and quickly swatted
the man to his back and ended his life in the same manner as his wife’s, a crushing
bite to the neck. People in the area hear the commotion and
come running. They try to drive the bear off but it doesn’t budge. They fire guns to
scare the bear and it stays over the bodies. As the bystanders continue to watch, they
see the bear playing with the dead bodies of its victims. It moves their arms around
and rolls their bodies over. It sniffs them and nibbles on them to see how they taste.
The observers believe the bear is devouring the bodies, but it is later revealed, he simply
played with the dead bodies for several hours. When forestry workers finally arrived, they
shot the bear with a tranquilizer gun and took it for analysis. The bear was found to
be in the final stages of rabies and probably attacked based on the pain and confusion of
the infection. It died within a few hours of being captured.
Authorities claim that increased deforestation is causing bears and many animals to encroach
on human settlements and compete rigorously for resources. Violent attacks are on the
rise. The regional government granted the family
of the couple the equivalent of $5,100.00. There are only about 20,000 or fewer sloth
bears that remain in the wild spread across India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
A study revealed only 13.7% of sloth bear attacks are fatal to humans but it is a much
higher percent fatal to the sloth bears. Thank you for watching Scary Bear Attacks!
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