How Kashmir’s lost buffer zones bring bears and leopards to doorsteps

As Gaschari disappears beneath hotels, orchards and housing colonies, rising encounters between people, bears and leopards reveal a changing landscape that wildlife and authorities struggle to manage.

The call reached rescuers after sunrise. A black bear had appeared near a hotel perched on the forest edge in Srinagar’s Chashme Shahi area.

Guests watched from windows while residents gathered outside, expecting the animal to retreat into the woods.

The bear circled the property instead, returning several times to the same patch of land that had long formed part of its natural habitat.

Rescuers with Wildlife SOS guided the bear toward the forest, hoping the encounter had ended.

The animal returned again, and another rescue followed.

Officials finally shifted the bear to Dachigam Wildlife Sanctuary after repeated visits placed people and wildlife on a collision course.

Aliya Mir, project head at Wildlife SOS, sees the episode as a picture of a wider transformation unfolding through Jammu and Kashmir.

Traditional village commons, locally known as Gaschari, once formed broad buffer zones between forests and settlements.

Those open spaces gave wild animals room to move before returning to the forest.

“Buffer zones used to be a gap between human habitation and the forest,” Aliya said.

“Earlier, an animal would cross into these buffer zones and eventually return to the forest. Now, they venture directly into human settlements.”

Conservationists say that Kashmir’s landscape has changed rapidly.

Housing colonies, hotels and expanding infrastructure now occupy large portions of the commons that once separated people from wildlife.

“We are now in direct contact with forests and wildlife, which is why we are witnessing human-wildlife interactions almost every other day,” Aliya added.

She believes the change has reached a stage where reversing land use remains extremely difficult.

Official data details the growing scale of the problem.

Figures accessed by Free Press Kashmir show that the Wildlife Protection Department recorded more than 17,200 human-wildlife conflict incidents between 2020 and July 2025.

North Kashmir accounted for more than 8,000 cases, almost half the total. South Kashmir followed with more than 6,600 incidents, including over 2,900 cases in Shopian alone.

Central Kashmir recorded about 630 incidents during the same period.

Wildlife now appears well beyond protected forests.

Black bears regularly enter orchards and residential neighbourhoods. Leopards pass through villages and urban fringes, sometimes with deadly consequences.

Department records show that human-wildlife conflict claimed the lives of more than 100 people and injured nearly 1,100 others between 2020 and 2026.

Regional Wildlife Warden, Jammu and Kashmir, Rashid Naqash told Free Press Kashmir, “The increase in human-wildlife interactions across the Kashmir landscape, particularly involving black bears and leopards, is the result of multiple ecological and socio-economic changes rather than any sudden change in animal behaviour.”

He said the easy availability of food around habitations, including standing maize crops, fruit orchards, garbage dumps and free-ranging livestock, attracts wild animals into human-dominated landscapes.

Naqash said the Department of Wildlife Protection is strengthening preventive measures through public awareness, rapid response teams, habitat improvement, scientific monitoring and community participation.

He also urged people to remain vigilant and immediately report wildlife sightings so timely intervention can minimise risks to both human lives and wildlife.

Aliya Mir says changing land use explains much of the trend emerging in different parts of the valley.

South Kashmir has witnessed extensive conversion of agricultural fields into fruit orchards. Apple trees provide a rich food source that naturally attracts black bears.

“Shifting agricultural land to horticulture has contributed to the conflict,” Aliya asserted.

“Bears are naturally attracted to fruit-bearing trees, which is why bear encounters are more common in south Kashmir, where orchards are spread across large areas.”

North Kashmir presents an entirely different picture.

Leopards form part of the region’s natural wildlife population, while demographic changes have created new shelters close to villages.

Many families now live or work outside Kashmir, leaving homes vacant for months at a time.

Conservationists say those empty buildings have created ideal hiding places for leopards, bringing the predators closer to villages.

“Leopards readily use abandoned houses and overgrown plots as shelter,” Aliya said.

“Stray dogs and livestock around these settlements keep drawing them back.”

Children face the greatest danger during leopard encounters because of their size.

Wildlife SOS regularly advises families to keep children indoors after dusk, when leopards become more active.

Villages with open lawns, unfenced courtyards and direct access routes through vegetation present greater exposure.

Livestock pens also draw predators closer to settlements, increasing contact between wild animals and people.

“Before entering an orchard,” Aliya advises farmers, “make a loud noise so the animal knows someone is approaching. In most cases, it will move away on its own if it gets enough time and space.”

Field workers say simple precautions often prevent surprise encounters that place both humans and animals in danger.

Pressure also extends inside the Wildlife Protection Department.

A senior department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he lacked authorisation to speak publicly, said chronic staff shortages have weakened the government’s ability to respond as wildlife expands well beyond protected forests.

Around 350 to 400 sanctioned posts remain vacant, he said. Retirements over several decades gradually reduced the workforce while recruitment failed to keep pace with growing responsibilities.

“It is high time for reorganisation of the department because the responsibilities are expanding beyond the protected area,” the official said.

Conflict has spread through parts of the Jammu division as well.

Department records show 48 incidents in Jammu district, seven in Kathua, more than 180 combined in Rajouri and Poonch, and over 190 in Kishtwar during the same reporting period.

Wildlife experts say the rise in human-wildlife conflict depicts a changing landscape, where village commons have disappeared, settlements have moved closer to forests and wildlife continues to follow its traditional paths.

The black bear at Chashme Shahi had returned to a place it had always known, showing how people and wildlife now share the same space.

Kashmir’s landscape now tells that same story in district after district, where the distance between people and wildlife continues to shrink with lasting consequences for both.