Hyderabad: Rescued sloth bears stable, say zoo staff

Bahadurpura: The recently rescued sloth bears in Nehru Zoological Park are out of danger now and are responding to therapeutic treatment under newly inaugurated quarantine block.

Both the bears, male and female, are healthy and are responding well to the treatment. However, still they are under supervision in the quarantine block and will remain there till the next 45 days and would be shifted to an acclimatised location," the official of the park informed. "Sloth bears are considered vulnerable animals.

They are threatened by habitat loss and are sometimes captured for use in performances or hunted because of their aggressive behavior especially when they resorted to destruction of crops," he explained.

It is pertinent to mention that the bears were brought to the park on the intervening night of December 21 after being rescued from Bommanapally Village, on Karimnagar-Warangal border.

The bears are very ferocious animals identically formidable than tigers and other big cats. These omnivores animals are solitary creatures and generally nocturnal. They grow up to Six feet in length. When threatened they respond by standing on their hind legs and displaying their formidable foreclaws.