NAN - National park officials are hunting down a large Asiatic black bear that has been raiding a fruit plantation and alarming villagers in Phu Phiang district.
They planned to anaesthetise the bear and release it deep in the forest, away from the farms.
Tanwa Muangthong, head of a wildlife control unit in Nan, said on Friday that rangers from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, accompanied by local people, set out to find the bear on Friday morning.
They found pawprints about 12cm long in a rambutan plantation at Mai Samakkhi village in tambon Muang Chang.
The black bear's pawprint, left in a fruit plantation as it ran off into the forest in Nan's Phu Phiang district. (Photo by Rarinthorn Petcharoen)
Claw marks were also found on several fruit trees, with partially eaten rambutan scattered over the ground.
Khoo Songseekhwa, caretaker of the 60-rai rambutan and longan plantation, said he saw the bear when he arrived there early Friday morning. It was 150-160cm tall and was eating rambutan under a tree.
When the animal saw him it growled before running off into the forest.
Mr Tanwa said it was most likely the same Asiatic black bear that was spotted in forest behind the village last year. It also often came out from the forest to raid the fruit farms.
He had instructed the rangers to shoot the animal with an anaesthetic dart it they found it. The bear would later be released in the forest distant from human habitation.
He warned local people to take extra caution in the meantime and avoid going to their plantations at night. The bear had grown very big and could be dangerous if alarmed.
The Asiatic black bear, also known as the moon bear, is a close relative of the North American black bear and about the same size.