January 1991. Some people from a small ethnic community at Patrakhola tea estate in Dholoi Bheli, Kamalganj upazila of Moulvibazar, came to Sitesh Ranjan Deb. Wild boar were destroying the crops on their land, and they could find no way to protect them. So they turned to Sitesh Babu, who, after hearing the details, decided to protect the crops from the boar.

Early on 14 January, with a gun on his shoulder, Sitesh Babu hurried into the reed forest of Patrakhola tea estate, shrouded in thick fog. He took a few tea workers with him to search for the wild boar. Moving forward with his eyes fixed ahead, he did not notice when he drifted far from the workers. Walking along level ground, he suddenly felt he had stepped on something raised, and as soon as he did, it knocked him down. At that moment a bear clawed one side of Sitesh Babu's face, and he collapsed to the ground.

To save his life, the badly injured Sitesh Babu immediately fired at the bear with the gun in one hand. Hit by the shot, the bear fell to the ground and eventually died. The workers who had gone with him did not know about the attack, but ran over at the sound of the shot. They found Sitesh Babu badly injured beside the dead bear. The bear had torn away one of his eyes, his nose and part of his face.

The badly injured Sitesh Babu was taken to hospital in the Patrakhola tea estate manager's car. As his condition was very serious, he was sent from there to Pangu Hospital in Dhaka, then from Pangu Hospital to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), and then to Kolkata in India.

Thanks to the doctors' tireless efforts and his friends' help, Sitesh Babu survived, but his face was never the same. After seven operations and plastic surgery on his face, he now lives with one eye and artificial teeth, breathing through a small opening in his nose.

Sitesh Ranjan Deb, founder of the only zoo in Sreemangal upazila of Moulvibazar, recently told Jagonews24 about this hair-raising episode of his life while sitting in the drawing room of his home in Sreemangal town.

Sitesh Babu said his father, Srish Deb, was an amateur carer of wildlife who would bring home injured and sick animals and look after them. His father began caring for animals in 1962. Seeing his father's love and care for animals, young Sitesh too grew to love wildlife. That love brought him great harm, yet he still cares for animals. At 74, Sitesh Babu has on his own initiative built a zoo to treat and rear sick wildlife, releasing the animals back into the forest once they have been cared for.

Sitesh Deb told Jagonews24: "I got a second life by surviving the bear. No one thought I would live another 33 years; everyone said I would live only a few days." Asked about his continued love and care for animals despite the bear attack, he said: "I went to the animal myself. It did not come and attack me. The mistake was mine. So why shouldn't I care for injured animals? If I had stopped, the animals that have been cared for all this time would not have been."

Sitesh Ranjan Deb's animal and bird sanctuary was formally established in 1971. Deer, bears, langurs, monkeys and other species of wildlife are cared for there, and often many kinds of birds also find shelter. By word of mouth it came to be known as "Sitesh Babu's Zoo".

After he was injured in the bear attack, his sons could not feed the animals for lack of money, and wanted to close it. But when news of the closure was reported in the media, well-off people in the area gave some help. Then in 2009 the sanctuary was moved to Rupaspur Khamarbari, Sitesh Ranjan Deb's fish farm, about one kilometre from the town. "Sitesh Babu's Zoo" now covers 1.80 acres.

Sitesh Babu said the sanctuary's costs have risen a lot. "We get some help from people, but with the price of everything rising it is no longer enough. Unless we get permanent support or a grant, I see no future for the sanctuary. There will be no option but to release the animals into the forest with the Forest Department."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.