2,357 attacks in 20 years: calm Asiatic black bears on a short fuse in Kashmir.

• The Kashmir Valley has bucked the trend of Asiatic black bear ( Ursus thibetanus) attacks on humans rarely reported throughout the animal’s global range.
• The conversion of the bear’s natural habitat to orchards and farmlands is the primary reason for the ursine attacks over the past 30 years.
• Other reasons include the India-Pakistan border fencing which blocks the movement of the animal and a new generation of people who are not familiar with co-existing with large predators.
• Study recorded 2,357 Asiatic black bear attacks in the Valley between 2000 and 2020. A total of 2,243 attacks or 95.2% of the cases resulted in injury and 114 attacks or 4.8% of cases in death.

About Asiatic Black Bears

• The Asiatic black bear is one of eight extant species of the bear family.
• It is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle.
• It has a coat of smooth black fur and can be distinguished by a V of white fur on its chest.
• It is spread across Asia, from the Himalayas to the Russian Far East.
• It has been categorised as Vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species and is also listed under Appendix I of CITES and Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• The bears are found in 83 protected areas of India, spread across five states and 2 Union Territories in the Himalayas
• It is one of the large carnivore species having negative interactions with humans in the Indian Himalayas.
• Till now, methods used to determine the population status of Asiatic black bears in India have been limited to questionnaires, sign surveys and genetic sampling using hair samples.