Kuala Terengganu: The Terengganu Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) is intensifying efforts to capture an elusive mother bear and its cub spotted roaming around Kampung Beting Lintang here the past few days. Its director Loo Kean Seong said that they have received three complaints from villagers since Nov 3 last year.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Loo mentioned that previous attempts to trap the bears in the village were unsuccessful. The traps were then relocated to Kampung Gong Batu, approximately one kilometer away, based on the belief that the bears had strayed there. However, traps were reset in Kampung Beting Lintang after recent reports of the bears wandering in the area.

Loo further noted that the same bears are suspected of having ravaged a stingless bee farming project at Sultan Zainal Abidin University last year. The situation gained public attention when pictures of the adult black bear and its cub appeared on Facebook, intensifying the urgency of the search.

Meanwhile, Abd Wahab Ab Rahman, chairman of the Beting Lintang Village Development and Security Committee, expressed the villagers' concerns regarding the bears' presence. The bears have caused unease, especially since they appear during the day, posing a potential threat to villagers and children engaged in daily activities.

Abd Wahab also mentioned that the bears have preyed on livestock and four monkeys owned by the villagers since November last year. The most recent incident involved a monkey believed to have been preyed on by the bears last night.