Human-Bear conflict is one of the major issues faced by local community in South Kashmir and Wildlife Protection Department of Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Due to the habitat degradation, the natural prey species has declined, resulting into the high frequency of black bear visits in forest fringes, which in turn causes the tremendous conflict with human beings. This paper aims to study this conflict, its causes, consequences and suggest mitigation measures by presenting the results of the study of the human-bear conflict in the four districts (Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama) of Jammu and Kashmir, during 2016-2018. A total of 135 affected persons/families were interviewed using structured questionnaires and discussions were made with the local community of the study area. Anantnag district is the most conflict prone with 56 incidents of HBBC incidences followed by Pulwama district with 43 cases and Kulgam with 18 cases of conflict incidents. Among the victims 77% are mails with 23% females. Of the 135 victims, 7 persons were killed whereas 128 persons were injured during these conflict incidents. There were 15 crop depredation incidences by black bear, leading to high financial loss to the local stakeholders rendering the animal under high persecution by the rural communities. This conflict is the major threat to the conservation of large carnivore/omnivore species especially Asiatic Black bear.

Keywords: Human- Bear Conflict, Depredation, Wildlife Protection, habitat degradation