Coimbatore : People in Valparai in the district were in for another shock when a 55-year-old man was killed by a bear in an estate  in the early hours of today.

It was hardly a week ago that a four-year-old boy was killed by a leopard in the vicinity and efforts to track it continued. Panic has gripped people in the area.

Susai, a resident of  Waterfall Estate, had gone to fetch firewood in the jungle area early today and some estate workers going for duty early in the morning noticed his body lying near a bush, police said,On information police and forest officials rushed to the spot where there were footmarks of bears, they said.

Forest officials, busy to trap the leopard, which reportedly killed the boy earlier, are now on a bear hunt, police said.