Title: Human-Asiatic Black Bear Interactions in the Fringe Villages of Khangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim, Northeast India
KeyWords: Conservation, crop depredation, human-bear interaction, human casualties, livestock depletion, man animal conflict
Year of Publication: 2020
ISSN No: Print ISSN 2394-4315, Online ISSN 2582-2276
Author Name: Rakesh Basnett, Awadhesh Kumar, Yengkhom Roamer Zest, Dipika Parbo
Details:
Abstract: Human-black bear interactions have been increasing because of habitat destruction in their global distributionalranges. We investigated human-Asiatic black bear interactions from 2016 to 2018 to assess the damages caused by the blackbears in the fringe villages of the Khangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim, India by conducting semi-structured questionnairesurvey among 193 inhabitants of 18 villages in the study area. We recorded 393 incidents of Human-Asiatic black bearinteractions in the study area. We observed four different types of human-bear interactions viz. (i) crop depredation (62.85%,n=247 incidents), (ii) livestock kill (29.77%, n=117 incidents) and (iii) human casualties incidents (3.31%, n=13 and (iv) propertiesdamages (4.07%, n=16 incidents). Maize (35.62%) and goats (15.52%) were recorded as the highest depredated species in thefringe villages. Most of the crop damages were recorded <400 m and livestock kill between 800m and 1.2km from the edge ofthe Khangchendzonga National Park. That there is a significant difference in the altitudinal human-black bear interactions(H=6.92, df=7, p=0.438) and maximum (32%) of incidents were recorded in the elevation ranges of 1501-2000 m asl. About60% of fringe villages of park fall under the high and moderate-intensity zone of human-black bear interactions. More than50% of respondents have shown a positive attitude towards the conservation of bears when properties are only damaged, butdemanded retaliatory killing of bear during human attack (85%). A suitable conservation strategy may be developed formitigating the human-Asiatic black bear interaction based on the present findings and in consultation with local inhabitantswho are the most vulnerable.
Key words: Conservation, crop depredation, human-bear interaction, human casualties, livestock depletion