JERTIH: The Terengganu Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) has been intensifying efforts to capture an elusive mother bear and its cub spotted roaming around Kampung Beting Lintang for the past few days.
Its director, Loo Kean Seong, said they had received three complaints from villagers since Nov 3 last year.
"Previously, we set traps twice in the village but to no avail. We then moved and set the traps in Kampung Gong Batu, about one kilometre from this village, believing that the two bears had strayed there.
"This afternoon, we set the traps again in Kampung Beting Lintang after being informed about the presence of the bears that were detected wandering there a few days ago,” he said when contacted by Bernama on Wednesday (Jan 15).
Loo said they believe the same bears ravaged a stingless bee (kelulut) farming project at Sultan Zainal Abidin University (UniSZA) last year.
Earlier, the wildlife game of hide-and-seek intensified as pictures of an adult black bear and its cub wandering in the village cropped up on Facebook.
Meanwhile, Beting Lintang Village Development and Security Committee (JPKK) chairman Abd Wahab Ab Rahman said the presence of the two bears in recent days has caused unease among the villagers.
"The villagers are worried that the animals appear during the day and become a threat while carrying out their daily routines and children playing.
"The bears (omnivorous but not averse to meat) not only roam around but also preyed on livestock and four monkeys owned by the villagers since November last year. Most recently, a monkey was believed to have been preyed on by the bears last night,” he said when he met Bernama here on Wednesday. – Bernama
