Bear injures three more villagers in Kashmir

Srinagar, Aug 4: In yet another man-animal conflict, three more villagers were attacked and injured by a wild bear, in the border area of Uri in north Kashmir.

A woman was killed and another villager injured by wild bears in Tral and Kupwara respectively early this week.

A police spokesman said, a bear attacked three villagers at Tjara Boniyar in Uri, about 100 km from here in north Kashmir district of Baramulla early this morning.

However, villagers rescued them and admitted them in a hospital.

Later, the bear went back into dense forest, he said.

A bear in south Kashmir killed two the villagers on July 11.

As many as 27 people have been killed and more than 120 wounded in attacks by leopards and bears in Jammu and Kashmir during the past two years.

In man-animal conflicts during the past ten years, more than 150 people have lost their lives and about 1,500 wounded in Jammu and Kashmir.

Recently, authorities killed a bear at a village in border district of Kupwara in north Kashmir as the animal had spread havoc in the area, while two leopards were also killed by the people since January this year in the valley.

The reasons behind the increasing man-animal conflicts in the state were the shrinking habitats of wild animals, spread of human settlements, deforestation and decrease in herbivore population.

UNI