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Missing Bear Mystery at Indian Zoo

A big black female bear weighing between 90 to 110kg had been missing since February 22 from capital`s Zoo. An official scoffed at explanations offered so far to the Indian media that the female bear may have tried to tunnel her way to freedom. The bear may have been poached or died from carelessness, he said.

An unidentified keeper told the Indian Express that two keepers found a tunnel which they believed had been dug by the bear, possibly to escape from an enclosure surrounded by a water-filled moat. But the zoo official who spoke to AFP said black bears do not tunnel.

"A bear of that size housed in a moated enclosure filled with water just cannot simply disappear," the zoo official said. "And Himalayan black bears are not diggers like the sloth bears. These are excuses to cover up the real story of what happened to the bear. But unfortunately, we may never know," he added.