Certificate - Etheses - Saurashtra University

livestock and predator distributions overlapped (Kharel, 1997; Sekhar, 1998 and
Stein, 2000). When livestock depredation occurred, local residents might have to
invest significant resources to protect their property, and they frequently found to
oppose wildlife conservation (Hill, 1997). In extreme cases, they might even seek to
extirpate potentially damaging wildlife (Conover, 1994).
As a result of human-induced mortality and destruction of bear habitat throughout the
world, bear populations have diminished or become locally extinct in many areas
(Servheen, 1999; Mattson and Marrill, 2002). Black and brown bears could be
characterized as opportunistic predators (Herrero, 1978). Even though global bear
populations today have been found only a fraction of what they were in the past,
livestock based conflicts continued to be a problem wherever bears and livestock
coexisted. Even small population of bears could cause significant damage to
livestock. In western Cantabrian brown bear (Ursus arctos) population in Spain,
estimated at 50-60 individuals, was attributed with depredation resulting in 1,076
claims for damage compensation between 1973 and 1990 (Garcia-Gaona et al., 1993).
Similarly in Norway, a small population of 20-25 bears was estimated to kill about
2,000 sheep annually (Kaczensky, 1999). Bear depredation on sheep has been found
to occur frequently on Norwegian summer pastures (Mysterud, 1980; Kvam et al.,
1993; Wabakken and Maartmann, 1994 and Dahle, 1996). In Venezuela, Colombia,
Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, Andean bears were perceived as livestock predators where
herding was common and bears were frequently blamed for any livestock
disappearance or death (Goldstein et al., 2006). The North American bears (grizzly
bears Ursus arctos and American black bears Ursus americanus) were known to use
apiaries, crops, orchard fruits, garbage, and livestock for food (Ambrose and sanders,
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