Frequency and Geospatial Distribution of Human Conflict with Ursus thibetanus and Panthera pardus in Chenab Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India

Abstract

Human wildlife conflict has been reported in different locations of Chenab valley like other parts of world. Forests in valley are mainly dominated by conflict causing Himalayan Black Bear and Leopard. Himalayan black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and leopard (Panthera pardus) are involved in conflicts with humans for many reasons. The majority of local population is rural and face unavoidable threat of wildlife conflict. The present study was carried out in Chenab Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India to evaluate the frequency of conflict incidences, ex-gratia disbursed among the victims of wildlife and geospatial distribution of conflict cases. Conflicts are manifested when people are killed or injured by wild animals. The causes of conflict in valley are livestock predation by leopard, wildlife depredation of crops in farms and inadequate or lack of compensation for losses. A dynamics in number of human-black bear and human-leopard conflict cases have been observed and location of incidences was randomly distributed. The aim of present investigation is to analyze the problem of human wildlife conflict and to emphasize on the conservation of wildlife from human killings.