Rare Honey Badger spotted in Kanker, triggers panic among villagers

In a rare incident, a honey badger or ‘Ratel’ was spotted in Kotalbhatti village under Dudhawa forest range in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, said a forest official on Tuesday. The villagers of Kotalbhatti village spotted the rare species in the morning beside a road and got afraid of the creature.

Kanker (Chhattisgarh):In a rare incident, a honey badger or ‘Ratel’ was spotted in Kotalbhatti village under the Dudhawa forest range in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, said a forest official on Tuesday. The villagers of Kotalbhatti village spotted the rare species in the morning beside a road and got afraid of the creature.

Later, the villagers contacted the local forest department and then the Forest Department took the rare animal into its possession and it is being taken care of. According to the forest officials, the scientific name of honey badger is 'Mellivora capensis' and belongs to the Mustelidae family of carnivorous mammals.

Alok Bajpai, District Forest officer, Kanker claimed that "Honey Badger is named in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Fearless Creature" and they get hunted for skin, fur and cosmetics and have been kept in the category of extinct wildlife.

"If a Honey Badger is locked in a room, it runs away by opening the door latch, putting stone, digging the ground and making a tunnel. It first understands the situation and then makes the plans to escape," the official added.

Ratel’ or honey badger or (‘Gadabhalu’ in Odia) is a small carnivore present in most parts of the country in very low density. It is a schedule 1 animal under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The animal was very rarely sighted in Odisha although often documented in Similipal through camera traps.

The forest area of ​​Kanker's Kotalbhatti village comes under close proximity to Sitanadi Wildlife Sanctuary and is located in Dhamtari District, possibility of rare animals coming from there is being expressed by the forest officials.