Tenkasi: A video of a bear attacking three residents of Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu and leaving them severely injured has surfaced on social media. The video, which has been widely circulated, has been scrutinised by the fact-checking team of ETV Bharat. The team found out that the video has been uploaded by the IBC Tamil website on its YouTube page in 2015. The incident took place in Chhattisgarh's Surajpur where a forest officer died on the spot when he was attacked by a bear. When the Forest Department learnt about the video it appealed to netizens not to create confusion by sharing the old video of the 2015 incident.
In a fresh incident, on November 6, the Forest Department officials tracked a bear, which was on the prowl, and they captured it after tranquilising. But netizens and sections of the media were confused and a video of the bear attack that occurred in 2015 was circulated. As the news spread, people gathered in the area and staged a protest demanding that the bear be killed in front of them. The Forest Department officials said that the bear was released in a forest area in Chengaltheri near Kalakad.
Also read: Tamil Nadu: Bear leaves 3 persons critically injured, dies after being anesthetized
Later on November 8, the forest department said the bear suddenly died and they burnt the carcass. Usually, when wild animals die, they are buried in pits. But the burning of the bear's body has caused controversy. Forest activists have also questioned whether the bear died from an overdose of anaesthesia Meanwhile, a video of the bear attack is being circulated on social and mainstream media houses with netizens raising their concerns for the safety of locals.
The video shows the animal on top of the man biting his face. In this case, the Forest Department has warned that the video is fake and should not be shared. It is true that three men were attacked by a bear, but sharing a terrifying eight-year-old video has the potential to create unnecessary fear among people, said the Forest Department.
