By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
After a sudden spurt in the man-bear conflicts in the hills of Uttarakhand, the forest department is positive on two good reasons why such attacks may decline considerably soon.
Firstly, the department has heightened the surveillance in most of the vulnerable zones to check the bear attacks. Secondly, there is a high hope that the bears are likely to go into their hibernation by the beginning of December.
“We have put our forest guards on high alert and heightened the surveillance at all vulnerable places,” said Samir Sinha, the Head of the Forest Force (HOFF). “We are hopeful that such attacks may decline shortly,” said Sinha. In yet another move, Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj has ordered removal of bushes from all those spots where bears usually hide.
Interestingly, state Congress President Ganesh Godiyal recently brandished a toy gun to put pressure on the government saying the people will be compelled to take arms in their own hands.
In view of the raging attacks and political pressure, the state forest department has decided to conduct an extensive study on the behaviour of the black Himalayan bears to find a long-term solution. Experts immediately welcomed the move saying such studies are always helpful in the long-term. “We have done studies in Kashmir on bears in the past. But no such study was done in Uttarakhand. This is a good decision,” said Dr S Sathyakumar, a wildlife expert.
Five people were killed and 69 injured in different attacks by bears in the hill state this year, said Ranjan Mishra Chief Wildlife Warden. Multiple factors are leading to such conflicts between bears and human beings which include climate change, dry winter, garbage littering, increased human interference and shrinking food availability.
These above factors have adversely affected the hibernation period of bears, shortening it by 15-30 days, due to which the animal has become disturbed, experts said adding they are hopeful that bears would go into hibernation in the beginning of December.
A bear which was declared a dangerous to human lives in Paithani-Thalisain area of Pauri district has not been captured so far. This is the first incident where a bear has been declared dangerous which means that it should be first captured or if not, it should be killed as a last resort.
In the last five years, bears have injured 438 people, the official data said. Bears are currently a problem in 17 of the state’s 38 forest divisions, especially in the higher altitudes of both Garhwal and Kumaon.