THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is alleged that the Rapid Response Team (RRT), responsible for the incident in which a tranquilized bear fell into a well at Vellanadu and drowned, has made the State Forest Department a disgrace to the entire country. Even the top officials of the forest department say that such RRT should be disbanded because they do not even know the basics of rescue operations. The standard operating procedure of the forest department is to not use a stun gun while catching a wild animal when there is a possibility of drowning. RRT members, who do not even know this law, suggested that they can shoot and catch the bear. It is also alleged that despite the incident being controversial, efforts are being made to rescue them.

DFO called the zoo's veterinary surgeon when the forest department's own veterinary surgeon was present in Kottur. The women workers who stood to hold the net prepared to catch the bear could not bear the excessive weight of the bear. If the rope tied to the net was tied to the tree instead, the situation of one side tilting could have been avoided. The decision to shoot the bear was made without doing enough homework. The chief wildlife warden's report that the tranquilizer was shot without the permission of the wildlife warden and the state wildlife board is making matters more complicated.

The operation of RRT in Thiruvananthapuram district is under the Paruthipally forest range office. At present, the main function of RRT is to capture snakes that enter residential areas. They catch snakes by ignoring the forest department's advice that it is wrong to hold the snake by hand and if caught by the tail, the snake's spine may break and the vertebrae may get damaged. A video shot at Idinjar near Ponmudi where a king cobra was picked up and thrown several times to capture it in a sack was controversial. The woman officer who came to catch a python in Uzhamalackal had dragged the python along the concrete road by its tail. Some people in RRT have only one goal and that is to record the video of catching the snake and make it viral.