The sloth bear, which strayed into the sprawling Satavahana University campus here on Wednesday night remained elusive despite the stepped-up vigil by the forest department sleuths to trace it, leaving the staff members of the university and others on tenterhooks.
Efforts continued for the fifth consecutive day on Monday to track the wild animal through a slew of camera traps installed at vantage points on the 200-acre campus, but to no avail.
The university authorities suspended classes for students of all university colleges located on the campus for two days from Monday to facilitate the ongoing efforts by the forest department personnel to trace the sloth bear, sources said.
As many as 10 camera traps have been installed at multiple locations on the campus to track the movement of the sloth bear and four trap cages have been set up to trap the wild animal, said the District Forest Officer Ch Balamani.
“We are constantly monitoring the footage from the camera traps and continuing efforts to trap the animal in the trap cages by placing food items and honey under the supervision of experts,” she told The Hindu, elaborating the intensive efforts to trap the sloth bear and release the animal into the wild.
