Kedah Perhilitan captures sun bear in Yan

ALOR SETAR: The Kedah Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) captured a sun bear that wandered into a padi field in Kampung Selengkoh, Yan at about 12.50pm on Thursday (Feb 2).

Its director Jamalun Nasir Ibrahim said the female sun bear, weighing about 90kg, was believed to have come from a forest area in Gunung Jerai.

"The bear is believed to have come out of its habitat in search of food and subsequently been disoriented after going into the village area while finding its way back into the forest.

"The bear was captured using tranquilisers with the help of members of the Fire and Rescue Department, the Malaysian Civil Defence Force and RELA (the Malaysia Volunteers Corps Department)," he said when contacted by Bernama on Thursday.

Jamalun Nasir said the sun bear would be sent to the National Wildlife Rescue Centre (NWRC) in Sungkai, Perak for further examination.

Meanwhile, in the attempt to capture the bear, a member of the Auxiliary Fire Brigade from the Yan Fire and Rescue station suffered injuries to his left wrist after the bear pounced on him.

Yan Fire and Rescue station chief Norhamidi Ali said the 27-year-old PBB member was sent to the Yan Hospital for further treatment.

"We received a call regarding the presence of a bear in the area at about 10.15am today (Feb 2) before immediately deploying a team to the location to carry out rescue work," he added. - Bernama