BARAMULLA: A black bear was caught in a Hand-wara village by the team of wildlife officials on Thursday morning.Official sources in the wildlife department said that locals of Kuk-roosa village of Handwara reported that a black bear has been roam-ing in their locality from past few days and created a panic among the locals. They said soon after the information a team of wildlife of-ficials reached the village and they installed a cage. They said on Thurs-day morning the officials success-fully caught the black bear and they will free the bear after some time. The block officer (BO) wildlife department Handwara Habibul-lah said that they caught the bear in the wee hours of Thursday. He said due to recent snowfall wild animals are coming towards the residential areas in search of food. He appealed to local people living near the forest areas to not venture outside their homes in morning and evening hours alone and inform the nearby wildlife of-ficials if they find any wild beast around their localities.

Mushtaq Ahamd