Experts blame buffer zone loss, land conversions on rising Human-Wildlife Conflict in Kashmir

Kashmir's wildlife is moving, and their sight in backyards is becoming a new normal.

As the buffer zones of forests in Kashmir keep shrinking, the orchard boom is inviting the wildlife home.

The black bears and leopards are learning to live among us while feeding on apples and garbage.

As leopard and bear attacks rise across Kashmir, wildlife experts are sounding the alarm over vanishing buffer zones, unplanned land conversion, and poor waste management - factors they say are driving wild animals dangerously close to human settlements.

In recent weeks, two toddlers from nomadic families have been killed in separate leopard attacks, while several others have been injured by black bears as well as leopards during the ongoing harvest season.

The incidents have sparked fear across rural Kashmir, where reports of wild animals prowling near homes have become increasingly common. Much of rural Kashmir's landscape has undergone dramatic change.

Once defined by paddy fields and maize crops that separated forests from villages, large stretches of farmland are now being converted into apple orchards.

Experts say this shift has erased natural barriers that once kept wild animals at bay.

"Maize, a cash crop which acted as a natural buffer in rain-fed areas, is now being replaced by apple orchards," said Suhail Intesar, Wildlife Warden with the Department of Wildlife Protection. "Paddy, the main agricultural crop, has given way to horticulture crops. Orchards begin where forests end, and over time we have lost the barren belt that separated human and animal spaces."

These new orchards, with their dense foliage and fruit, now provide both food and shelter for wild animals.

"Bears find ample food here that is unavailable in their natural habitats," Intesar said. "The result is that humans have become far more vulnerable to bear attacks."

Alongside habitat loss, garbage and food waste are compounding the conflict.

Poor waste disposal attracts stray dogs, which in turn lure leopards closer to villages.

"Improper disposal of kitchen waste has indirectly made our neighbourhoods part of the leopards' hunting grounds," Intesar said. "Leopards follow stray dogs that feed on open garbage dumps near homes."

The ongoing harvest season has also intensified the problem.

Officials say bears are often drawn by fallen or rotting fruit left on the ground.

"Bear attacks peak during fruit harvesting," said Suhail Ahmad Wagay, Wildlife Warden for Shopian-Pulwama. "Fallen apples and food waste must be properly cleared to prevent wild animals from being attracted to orchards."

Wagay said that the combination of unharvested fruit and stray dogs has created "ideal habitats" for bears and leopards near human settlements.

"If the food is here, why would they go back to the forests?" he said.

The problem is no longer limited to forest fringes.

Leopards and black bears have recently been sighted near towns like Anantnag and even close to Srinagar, according to wildlife officials.

"We are getting frequent calls of leopard sighting from everywhere," Wagay said. "Prompt responses by our teams have saved lives, but constant vigilance is crucial."

The Wildlife Department has issued an advisory urging residents to avoid venturing alone near forest areas, especially during dawn and dusk, and to stop dumping food waste near homes.

It has also recommended building concrete "leopard-proof" cattle sheds.

Head of the Department of Wildlife Sciences at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST-K), Khurshid Ahmad Shah, said some wild animals had already adapted to living near people.

"Many leopards now live and breed within urbanised populations," he said. "They rely on stray dogs as prey, and apple orchards offer year-round food. The conversion of paddy fields and grazing lands has made this transition even easier."

He said black bears, too, were adjusting to semi-urban life.

"Except for those in Dachigam National Park, most bears have made human-dominated areas their habitat," Shah said. "Our studies show that bears in Dachigam never come down in search of food, proving how habitat security determines animal behaviour."

Shah said that the disappearance of traditional buffer zones - paddy fields, maize crops, and grazing lands - has erased the natural divide between humans and wildlife.

"When food and shelter are easily available near villages, animals no longer need to return to forests," Shah said.

As harvests continue this autumn, Kashmir's orchards - once symbols of prosperity - have become the frontline in a growing struggle between humans and the wildlife.