Meanwhile, the forest officers, who sighted the bear later on Friday, managed to chase it into the Kariyanapalli forests, said sources with the forest department.
The injured farmers have been identified as 80-year-old Munusamy and 64-year-old Ganesh Rao. They owned land abutting each other in Bheemantapalli.
On Friday morning, the duo from Kathiripalli and a neighbouring village went to their respective farms at 5.30am to start the day's work. Hardly five minutes later, a large bear came charging out of the forest area surrounding their farms and pounced on Munusamy.
In the attack,Munusamy sustained several wounds. The bear also bit his legs badly.
According to Krishnagiri police, when the bear noticed Rao's movement in the neighbouring land, the animal left Munusamy and chased Rao and pounced on him too. Rao also sustained severe injuries.
Villagers later found both the men writhing in pain in a pool of blood and rushed them to the Veppanapalli primary health centre, where they were given first aid. The duo was then shifted to the Krishnagiri government hospital, where they are undergoing treatment now.
The AIADMK district secretary Gonvindaraj, conservator of forests in Dharmapuri A K Ulaganathan and district forest officer Nagesh visited the farmers and their families.
Nagesh promised them to arrange for the government compensation for animal attacks as soon as possible.
Later in the day, when forest rangers reportedly spotted the bear, which attacked the men in Bheemantapalli, they tracked and chased it into the Kariyanalli forests.
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