20 bear attacks, 4 deaths in Buldhana in a yr

The state has witnessed a spike in human-bear conflicts this year outside protected forest areas of Buldhana. From no cases in 2015, the area has seen 20 such conflicts that killed four people and injured 19 severely this year.

“Sloth bears stray outside the protected forest areas in search of food and often end up face-to-face with humans. In a bid to protect themselves, they attack people,” said Ganeshrao Zole, range forest officer, Dnyanganga Wildlife Sanctuary. “Around 15 sloth bears are currently outside the protected forest,” he said.

Rapid urbanisation and encroachment on forest land are the main reasons for such conflicts. Data presented in the Parliament on November 29, 2016 showed that 1,360 people died in animal attacks between 2013 and 2016. There are over a thousand sloth bears in the state, mainly in Chandrapur, Melghat, Gondia and Buldhana districts in Vidharba. The 3,000-hectare Dnyanganga Wildlife Sanctuary is home to almost 60 free-roaming sloth bears, protected under schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and considered ‘vulnerable’.

Concerned over the rising number of attacks, the state forest department has approached the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an international organisation working for nature conservation.

IUCN officials said a team of two Indian scientists, wildlife experts from Gujarat and wildlife ecologist Thomas Sharp from Utah, in the US will begin the study on April 20.“The situation is very critical and poses a serious threat to people living close to forests. We have been invited by the state forest department to undertake this study for a year,” said Nishith Dharaiya, co-chair, IUCN sloth bear expert team.

On Wednesday, a sloth bear was spotted at an abandoned railway station close to the Dnyanganga wildlife sanctuary.

“The sanctuary is surrounded by agricultural land. The crop this year has been good and the farmlands have become a good place for these bears to hide and find food,” said Gaur Sanjeev, former chief conservator of forest, Buldhana.