Baramulla, Nov 24: The Department of Wildlife Protection in north Kashmir has issued an advisory to orchardists, requesting them to dump the leftover apples in a pit in order to prevent man-animal conflict in the areas where black bears are present.
“Black bears have an incredible sense of smell and use it to locate food. The scent of fruits attracts black bears, thus all the orchardists are hereby requested to dump the leftover apples in pits to prevent the attraction of black bears in their respective areas for the safety of people,” the advisory reads.
Wildlife Warden North Division Mohammad Maqbool Baba told Rising Kashmir that the advisory is for all districts of north Kashmir as black bears, as well as brown bears, are found in abundance in these areas. “The department is short of manpower and machinery. It can’t employ people and use machinery outside every household. So, we request people, especially orchardists, to dump leftover apples in pits,” he said.
The man-animal conflict has consumed several lives in Baramulla and other districts. An official from the wildlife department said there were around 30 incidents of man-animal conflicts in north Kashmir this year.
“Uri subdivision of Baramulla remained the most affected area where several man-animal conflict incidents occurred this year,” he said, adding that these incidents saw children falling prey to wild animals. In September only, five children were killed by a leopard in the border town of Uri.
Leopard captured in Baramulla
The Department of Wildlife Protection personnel on Thursday captured a leopard alive from the Narwaw area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
A department official said that a leopard was captured alive by sleuths of the wildlife protection force in coordination with Sheeri police from Kalayban Narwaw village of Sheeri in Baramulla.
“The leopard was roaming in the residential area, posing a threat to the lives of people and their livestock,” he said.
The official said that soon after the information from the locals, several teams of wildlife protection force and police were sent to the area to capture the leopard. “The leopard was captured alive without causing any damage or injury,” the official added.
