Living with a large predator: Assessing the root causes of Human-brown bear conflict and their spatial patterns in Lahaul valley, Himachal Pradesh.

ABSTRACT: Brown bear-mediated conflicts have caused immense economic loss to the local people living across the distribution range. In India, limited knowledge is available on the Himalayan brown bear (HBB), making human-brown bear conflict (HBC) mitigation more challenging. In this study, we studied HBC in the Lahaul valley using a semi-structured questionnaire survey by interviewing 398 respondents from 37 villages. About 64.8% of respondents reported conflict in two major groups-crop damage (30.6%) and livestock depredations (6.2%), while 28% reported both. Conflict incidences were relatively high in summer and frequently occurred in areas closer to the forest (<500 m) and between the elevations range of 2700 m to 3000 m above sea level (asl). The dependency of locals on forest resources (70%) fo

SUBMITTER: Kumar V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9289122 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature