Himalayan brown bear becomes centre of attraction at Srinagar rehab centre

Exploring the forest life in Jammu and Kashmir is a fun, exciting and thrilling experience as Kashmir region is home to a variety of flora and fauna especially exotic and rare animal species in its national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. These species have been introduced here from the Himalayan region.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has taken several measures to protect and care for the wild animals here. The establishment of Dachigam National Park in the Zabarwan range of the Western Himalayas, 22.9 km from Srinagar, is an important step towards achieving this goal. Its landscape is dotted with meadows, alpine pastures, scrub vegetation and waterfalls.

Some of the amazing animals you can see in this national park of Jammu and Kashmir are Kashmiri deer, brown bear, leopard, Himalayan black bear and hangul. It is also home to a wide variety of birds, including black bulbuls, colourful thrushes, cinnamon buntings, pygmy alots, Himalayan monals and Kashmiri flycatchers.

During the last few years, where wild animals have become common in terrorising human settlements, the government has been catching and rescuing these stray animals in this park.

A male brown bear has become the centre of attention these days at the rehabilitation centre of Dachigam National Park. It has been rescued by the wildlife department in a rescue operation.

It was rescued from a garbage dump of a hotel in Sona Murg. Although this breed of cattle is mostly found in the upper parts of the Himalayan region, now these animals are also starting to visit human habitations in search of food.

Recently, a study by WildSOS revealed that brown bears get 75 per cent of their food from garbage. Plastic, chocolate, wrappers, dud powder and biryani are among their diets.

Alia Mir of WildSOS says that the brown bear was brought here from Sona Murg near a hotel during a rescue operation in 2017. It has been in the rehabilitation centre for several years now.

"When the animal was brought here from the hotel's garbage, it was very small, but the department took various measures to take care of it," Alia said.

She added that at that time she had very little information about the Himalayan brown bear. In such a situation, a wide survey was conducted by Wildlife SOS on their number and food pattern. SOS has conducted this survey in the areas of Thujawas, Neel Granth, Sarbal and Sona Marg, where these animals live. Research has shown that they get their nutritional needs from waste, which results in them turning more towards garbage.

In this rehabilitation centre, the male animal is kept in isolation, from which food is being fed on a daily basis under a special diet lick. Not only this, but in this rehabilitation centre, they are also provided with such an environment so that their wildness can be maintained.