Ashish Kumar Jangid, Sloth Bear Expert Team, IUCN Bear Specialist Group
Ravi Kumar Sharma, Wildlife Institute of India
We conducted a survey of people living in the proposed Jawai Community Conservation Reserve (309 km2; 25.0705°N, 73.1566°E) in Rajasthan state of western India. Jawai is a village located 16 km from Sumerpur town. The community reserve comprises both private and community land, and the local community participates in wildlife and habitat conservation, without any changes in land use patterns. The community reserve is not within the protected area network, but is governed by the Community Reserve Management Committee (The Wildlife Protection Amendment Act 2002).
The area has a high human population density (263/km2) sharing space with wildlife (Sharma 2017). Human–sloth bear encounters occur frequently; however, no scientific studies have been conducted on the sloth bear population, their habitat utilization, level of conflict, and peoples’ perceptions of this conflict. Here we present results of a reconnaissance study aimed at assessing peoples’ perception of the causes of interactions with sloth bears.
During our reconnaissance survey, we gathered direct and indirect signs of sloth bears. We confirmed the occurrence of the species in the south-western and central regions of the proposed reserve area, which has 21 villages. We carried out 72 semi-structured interviews in 8 representative villages to assess the characteristics of conflict in the area.
• Dependency on forests and natural resources by locals (37%): The proposed reserve area is within a human-dominated landscape containing suitable habitat for bears and providing food resources like fruits, termites, ants, honey, and also the Prasad (foods offerings made by devotees in temples). The natural foods of bears are also utilized by locals, resulting in encounters with bears. Sloth bears are especially attracted to Prasad and are even able to open the closed doors of small temples to feed on edibles (similar to recently observed behavior of sloth bears in Maharashtra, India; Singh et al. 2017). These close encounters have resulted in some maulings.• Sanitation unawareness (22%): Open defecation is a common practice by local people in the early morning and late evening Hours due to a lack of sanitation awareness, resources, and toilets. While walking to a place to defecate, people sometimes encounter bears.
• Crop raiding (18%): Attraction of bears to crops increases the risk of confrontations with people. Farmers are scared of early morning attacks while irrigating and guarding their crops. The activities of farmers and bears have temporal and spatial overlap (Bargali et al. 2005).
• Livestock grazing (12%): Local semi-pastoral “Rabari” community take their livestock to graze in the proposed reserve. A few livestock are often inadvertently left behind, forcing herders to go back and retrieve them. Incidents of mistaking bears for livestock and approaching them at close range during dawn and dusk has led to some attacks.
• Encounters with nursing bears (10%): Female sloth bears are very protective of their young. As the study area is hilly and speckled with boulders and thick brush, people may not see a female with cubs behind a rock or bush until already too close, leading the bear to burst upon the intruder.
Acknowledgements
We are thankful to the local villagers, who shared their opinions. We would like to thank the Forest Department, Government of Rajasthan and Wildlife Institute of India. We also thank Mr. Anupam Srivastav, Mr. Samaram and Mr. Lalit Kumar for their supporting efforts during the study.
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Ashish Kumar Jangid
Member: Sloth Bear Expert Team, IUCN Bear Specialist Group
Wildlife Institute of India
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India- 248001
Email: ashishjangid22@gmail.com
Ravi Kumar Sharma
Wildlife Institute of India
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India- 248001
Email: ravisharma@wii.gov.in
originally published in International Bear News 2018 Spring Vol. 27 No. 1 on pages 11-12