A mother bear, along with her two cubs, came down to the densely populated Gagribal area in Srinagar [Images], sending wildlife officials into a tizzy.  

Wildlife department officials are already at the spot, located barely three km from the city centre Lal Chowk, on the swish Boulevard Road on the bank of the Dal Lake.

"We are equipped with nets, tranquilizer guns and automatic traps to catch the mother bear and two cubs," said Syed Farooq Geelani , wildlife warden.

"The mother bear is inside dense bushes as people have seen them enter there. We have so far not spotted the three animals," he said.

"Once spotted, our priority will be to provide safe passage to the three animals back into the forest area," said Geelani.

Officials maintain a meagre annual budget of  Rs 2.3 crore is highly inadequate to handle the problems of the wild animals whose population has increased remarkably after hunting was banned.