Kashmir’s human-wildlife conflict has become extremely ghastly and gruesome with Himalayan black and brown bears, and leopards increasingly preying on young children and the elderly, especially in north Kashmir. Recently, the Himalayan brown bear was seen roaming around Srinagar City with his cub.
The man-animal conflict has seen a steep rise with more cases being reported from across the valley with each passing day and several persons, mainly children have lost their lives in the other conflict of Kashmir.
As per the official data available, from 2006 till the end of July 2022, 241 persons have died and 2,946 persons have been injured in man-animal conflicts.
Officials believe that the reasons behind the rise in the incident of conflict are an increase in the human population, habitation degradation, a rise in stray dogs, and LoC fencing.
The Himalayan Post also
reported on the
reasons over the increasing Human-animal conflict in Kashmir.
Also, the data reveals that in 2006-07, 18 persons have died and 134 persons have been injured in the human-animal conflict in Kashmir Valley. “In 2007-08, 15 persons lost their lives and 141 were injured. In 2008-09, 22 persons died and 193 persons were injured. In 2009-10, 20 persons died and 232 were injured and in 2010-11, 24 persons lost their lives and 306 were injured in human-animal conflict,” the figures stated.
Similarly, in 2011-12, at least 28 people were killed and 315 were injured, the following year (2012-13) recorded 11 deaths and 259 injuries while in 2013-14, 28 deaths and 333 injuries were reported.
“In 2014-15, 11 deaths and 189 injuries were reported. 10 deaths and 259 injuries were reported in 2015-16. 07 deaths and 127 injuries were reported in 2016-17. 08 deaths and 120 injuries were reported in 2017-18. The year 2018-19 witnessed 06 deaths and 83 injuries while figures grew to 11 deaths and 85 injuries in 2019-20,” the figures reveal, adding that “as many as 05 people were killed while 87 injuries were reported in the conflict in the year 2020-21 and in the year 2021-22, 10 persons lost their lives while 75 persons were injured in man-animal conflict.”
The data further states that in the ongoing year, till the end of July 2022, 07 persons lost their lives while 42 were injured in an animal conflict.
The wildlife department in Jammu and Kashmir is working to ensure minimum man-animal conflict incidents and the protection of endangered species besides the hunting of birds.
“The department is facing several challenges in J&K but the main challenge is man-animal conflict as bear and leopards are moving to residential areas in Kashmir, while snakes are found in houses in Jammu due to urbanization,” said a wildlife official.
He said that poaching incidents have decreased but as migratory birds arrive in Kashmir mostly in winter people start hunting.
“We have devised a strategy with the help of police and forest protection force to stop such incidents,” he said.
The official said that education and training activities at different levels have been initiated like schools and colleges to create awareness. (KNO)