Bears giving tough time to fruit growers

Black bears are giving sleepless nights to the residents of some panchayats in the Kotgarh area of Shimla district. Besides damaging apple and stone fruits like cherry, plum, almond and apricot, which are grown here on a large scale, bears are keeping the residents on tenterhooks about a possible encounter with them. “There are a lot of bears in the vicinity of our villages. They come to our orchards to eat fruits. At times, they bring down the entire tree, causing huge losses to fruit growers,” says Rajeev Chauhan, pradhan of Shamathla gram panchayat.

Chauhan says that the villagers have to remain alert all time, especially when there’s fruit on the trees. “Bears come to feed generally late when it’s dark all around. At times, we have to stay in our orchards till midnight bursting crackers to scare them away,” he adds.

Kapoor Jistu, a resident of the panchayat, says that human-bear encounters, though rare, do happen sometime. “About two years ago, a bear attacked a local youth, badly injuring him. The youth had to undergo a big surgery. Sometime ago, an entire bear family entered a house. Fortunately, there was no one in the house at that time,” he adds.

Chauhan says that bears had started attacking cattle around two years ago. “Bears entered cowsheds and attacked the cattle. Around 10 to 15 cows were badly injured in their attacks, which stopped only after people strengthened their cowsheds,” he adds.

Meanwhile, Range Officer Ajay Kumar says that almost round-the-year availability of different fruits at various altitudes in Kotgarh is the main reason behind the increasing bear population in the area. “Bear likes fruits and they can smell ripe fruits from far away,” he adds.

The Range Officer admits that bears are damaging crops and the Forest Department has set up cages in Dalan gram panchayat. “Besides, we keep updating panchayat pradhans on the measures people need to take to keep bears away from their orchards. The measures include solar fencing, keeping dogs, etc. A multi-pronged effort will help curb the bear menace,” he adds.

Put GPS on collars of animals

The problem should be dealt with in a scientific way. Animals should be tranquilised, and then GPS should be put on their collars to track their movement. Once their movement is tracked, it will be easy for people to keep them away from their orchards. Rakesh Singha, former MLA