GREEN MINUTE NEWS:
With the population of Himalayan brown bears declining, research studies have been launched recently for better conservation. Under the aegis of the Jammu & Kashmir Wildlife Protection Department, Wildlife SOS has embarked on a research project in studying the Himalayan brown bears in the border state.
The population of brown bears in Kashmir has been severely affected and fragmented in several parts due to tourism, construction activities, livestock grazing, agriculture, settlements, highways, railroad, tunnels and of course, poaching.
The Himalayan brown bear is one of the largest carnivore species in India with a restricted distribution in the alpine meadows of the Himalayas. Very little is known about its ecology and behavior in India.
The project entails tagging bears with GPS radio-collars to evaluate the habitat, its use pattern, foraging behavior, its availability and identify specific causative factors leading to human-brown bear conflicts in Sonmarg – the Central Wildlife Division, Kashmir.
Kashmir’s Sonmarg region is a refuge for brown bears, however, the unplanned disposal and treatment of waste here is a cause for major concern. The problem had prompted a preliminary field study by Wildlife SOS in 2021.
In this study, it was found that 75% of the diet of the bears who frequented garbage dumps included plastic, chocolates and organic food waste.
This resulted in carrying out a radio-collaring project on Himalayan brown bears in Sonmarg in conjunction with the J&K Wildlife Protection Department in the Central Wildlife Division of Kashmir.
Some of the primary objectives of the study is to understand the bears’ habitat utilization, movement pattern, habitats of males and females, activity pattern and hibernation period, to name a few.
In this phase, the field team radio-collared six brown bears, which included four males and two females. For this project, an animal welfare perspective was opted to examine the impact of living in a human-dominated environment on the welfare of brown bears.
Animal welfare and behavioral tendency metrics were used to predict human-brown bear conflict.
Aaliya Mir, Program Head- Jammu & Kashmir, Wildlife SOS stated, “Animal range use enables us to understand the habitat they use, corridors, and to know the areas which overlap with human habitation. Such ranging studies are essential to understand the fundamental ecology of the species and implement better conservation practices.”
Rashid Y Naqash, Regional Wildlife Warden, J&K Wildlife Protection Department said, “The Wildlife Protection Department has played its part in launching the project and the first phase is already over. We want to see the difference between bears that are socialized in the Thajwas landscape with those that are completely wild, without any human imprint.”
Swaminathan S, Senior Biologist, Wildlife SOS added, “The field team used radio collars which provide information on the movement of brown bears using a satellite tracking system. Further, these animals can be tracked on foot using VHF antennae in the field. The GPS and real time monitoring of these collared bears is still on and the results will be compiled after the completion of the first year.”
(PHOTO CREDIT: FOR ALL IMAGE: WILDLIFE SOS)