Another hyena spotted, recover

Tourism

Another hyena spotted, recovered in urban area

Another hyena, barely within nine months, was spotted within the locality. The wild animal was found hiding in a guest house in Asansol, which surprised both the officials and the residents of Jharkhand bordering Salanpur in Asansol.

The Forest department, after much struggle, secured to capture the adult Indian striped hyena from inside a house in Salanpur after an 18-hour-long chase.

In last February, corpse of a dead hyena was found lying dead near a refuelling station on the road linking City Centre and Benachitty in the early morning hours.

Last night, two hyenas entered the house of Nimai Pramanik at around 9 p.m. in Salanpur village under the Salanpur police station area. In fear, the residents fled the house. When locals shouted and attempted to drive the animals out, one hyena managed to escape under the cover of darkness, while the adult hyena remained inside.

The Asansol Territorial Range Officer of the forest department, Biswajit Sikdar, rushed to the spot with other officials, and a cage was brought in. However, the officials initially struggled to capture the animal.

This afternoon, firecrackers were hurled through the open windows, and when the frightened hyena tried to flee through the main door, it ran straight into the open cage placed outside.

“We will monitor the adult hyena for the next few days. It will be kept in our office and then released into the forest,” Mr Sikdar said.

Locals have demanded that the hyena’s mate also be captured and released into the forest, as they fear it may return in search of the adult hyena and attack them. Forest officials believe the two hyenas may have entered the house in search of poultry or cattle. They have urged residents not to attack the missing hyena if it is spotted, but to inform the forest department instead.

There has been an increase in the population of Indian striped hyenas and grey wolves in the forests of West Burdwan, particularly in the Asansol Sadar and Durgapur sub-divisions, according to a joint study by the WWF and the forest department.

Indian striped hyenas are a vulnerable and endangered species and are protected under the Indian Wildlife Act, 1973.