Kashmir’s wildlife wing recorded over 2,300 bear attacks in two decades since 2000, some of which were fatal. While the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is native to the region, its appearance in farms, orchards, and villages, is making residents anxious. These recurring interactions between humans and bears have kept wildlife managers on edge, trying to capture a wild animal while managing agitated people.

In this video, watch wildlife experts decode the human-bear conflict in Kashmir and the different experiments underway to mitigate this crisis.

Samina Amin Charoo, Research Officer, Department of Wildlife Protection, shares that they have seen bears come out of the forests for food. “It has to be studied if there’s lesser food in forests,” she says.

The bear encounters are high in orchards and agricultural fields, affecting the people who use the landscape. Livestock herders also face the risk. The smell of fallen apples and wasted food in garbage cans are among the top smells that attract the bears.

While the forest department officials called for rescues, trap and release the omnivore back into the wild, not all bears make it back. When the bears are orphaned, they receive care from the humans and get used to it. “For them (orphan cubs), there is very little chance to get rehabilitated into the wild because they won’t be in a position to find food for themselves, find shelter, because they are not being taught this by their mothers,” shares Rashid Naqash, Regional Wildlife Warden, Kashmir.

Farmers in Kashmir are experimenting with ways to guard their farms at night and protect them from bear attacks. “The people understand that the bear comes under [legal] protection. So, they can’t kill it,” shares Srinagar-based wildlife biologist Mehreen Khaleel, who is collecting data about the locations of human-bear conflict in Kashmir, the reasons behind it, and the local solutions to mitigate the conflict.

Meanwhile, researchers, non-profits, and the forest department are trying to increase awareness about the Asiatic bear’s behaviour and ways to mitigate human-bear conflicts.

Banner image: Asiatic black bear at Dachigam Rehabilitation Centre. Image by Mike Prince via Flickr [CC BY 2.0].