Odisha Woman Fights Off Bear With Axe To Save Husband

When a bear viciously attacked her husband, a woman in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district did not run for her life but chose to fight the wild animal and save him. 

The incident happened in Karanjia's Milu village on Tuesday. Malde Soren and his wife, Lili Soren, had ventured into the forest to collect leaves when they suddenly encountered a group of six wild bears, said Prasant Kumar Swain, Ranger, Karanjia Forest.

One of the bears suddenly launched an attack on Malde. As the animal mauled him, leaving him severely injured, Lili stood her ground and confronted the bear. Lili fought back using a tangia (a traditional axe-like tool). Her counterattack injured the bear, forcing it to retreat into the forest, said Swain. 

By then, Malde had already sustained serious injuries, including severe scalp wounds. Local emergency services rushed to the scene, and Malde was transported to a local hospital.

Due to the severity of his injuries, Malde was later shifted to a hospital in Keonjhar district for advanced treatment. 

The incident comes days after six people, including four members of a family, were trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants in Jharkhand's Hazaribag district. 

The herd had attacked multiple people over the last few days before this attack. The herd had entered Gondwar village in Churchu block on Thursday night and trampled six people to death early on Friday, Hazaribag East Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Vikas Kumar Ujjwal said.

(With inputs from Dev Kumar Ghosh)