Gundlupet: Traffic on the busy Bengaluru-Nilgiris National Highway was disrupted for sometime following the sighting of a bear near Garaganahalli yesterday.

The bear was sighted by one Mahadevappa of the village in his farm yesterday afternoon, which tried to attack him. Mahadevappa then screamed for help, which attracted the villagers, who rushed to the spot and chased the bear, which took shelter among the bushes nearby.

The Forest Department personnel, who rushed to the spot, tried to capture the bear with the help of nets and leave it back into the forest. But the bear, which had become aggressive by then, tried to attack the Forest staff, who managed to escape and the bear had climbed a tree for its safety. The Forest staff tranquillised the bear and took it back to the forest to set it free after it regained conscious.

ACF Ravikumar, RFO Naveen, Begur ASI of Police Gurusiddaiah and other officials visited the spot.