Certificate - Etheses - Saurashtra University

Chapter 6
Human-brown bear conflicts
6.1 Introduction
In India, the increase in human and livestock populations has created pressure on all
natural resources. Most of the protected areas are fragmented, degraded and disturbed
from anthropogenic activities. Forests, pastures and wastelands were brought under
cultivation to sustain increased demand of cereals and other food products (Chauhan and
Sawarkar, 1989). The unsustainable land-use patterns in rural areas have further altered
landscapes. This habitat modification has caused wildlife species to become ecological
dislocates (Chauhan and Ramveer Singh, 1990). Some species i.e. nilgai and blackbuck,
adapted to humans and have become locally overabundant, while a few others i.e. bears,
lion, leopard and wolf, stray out of protected areas. Consequently most of these species
cause damage to varying extent to human life and property.
The Greater Himalayan ranges that cover 2,33,800 km 2 (7.38%) of India’s geographical
region (Rodgers and Panwar, 1988), supports perhaps the largest population of
Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos) and black bear (Selenarctos thibetanus). They
are largely confined to the rolling uplands and alpine meadows above timberline,
ecologically separated from the forest dwelling Asiatic black bear (Schaller, 1977).
In Kugti wildlife sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh, brown bear, black bear and other
animals increasingly venture into human settlement and cultivation areas in search of
food and cause extensive damage to the agricultural and horticultural crops, kill
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