When they step out of home, schoolchildren and adults in parts of Uttarakhand make sure to carry a whistle, or a metal plate and a ladle or spoon to beat it with.
Such an arsenal may not have worked against Covid five years ago, when the Prime Minister had suggested banging on plates to keep the virus away. But Uttarakhand’s villagers hope the noise will scare away the bears that have killed seven people and injured 70 this year in the Himalayan state.
One of the chilliest attacks happened on December 23 when two bears that had entered a school in Pokharis, Chamoli, began dragging Class VII student Arab Kumar towards the bushes. They ran away when his classmates Divya Kumari and Dipika Kumar started screaming.
“They must have been hiding somewhere on the school compound since Monday (December 22) night. Or perhaps they were looking for a place to hibernate and attacked the boy when they heard noise,” a teacher, who didn’t want to be named, said.
Most of the attacks have occurred in the districts of Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri and Uttarkashi — and surprisingly, in winter when the animals are expected to hibernate.
Experts say that bears need to eat heavily before they begin their two-month hibernation in November-December. But they are facing a food shortage in the mountains — a consequence of large-scale deforestation thanks to climate change, tree felling and unplanned construction, and the resultant landslides and flash floods.
So the animals are coming down in search of food and attacking people who get in their way.
Three Himalayan black bears entered the cowshed of Mohan Singh Negi in Theng, Chamoli, on Monday morning, killed three goats and left a cow injured.
“They ate the goats and left while the entire village was asleep. My cattle are my only source of income,” Negi, a dairy farmer, told reporters.
Dhan Singh, a local panchayat leader, said: “The bear threat is increasing because the animals did not get the volumes of food and water they need before they can go into hibernation. So, they are still searching for food.”
He added: “We are asking people not to deposit garbage outside their villages, because this attracts the hungry and desperate bears. We are meeting experts every day to understand the situation.”
Himalayan black bears are omnivorous and hunt for livestock in human settlements when they can’t find their usual food, such as grass, roots, wild berries like kafal, insects and smaller animals in their normal habitat.
Principal chief conservator of forests Ranjan Kumar Mishra said that while man-bear conflict was not new to the mountain state, the situation had reached critical proportions in recent years, with this year being the worst.
“We are studying the changing behaviour of the Himalayan bears and hope to find a solution to their disturbed habitats,” he said.
A forest department report says that apart from mauling 7 to death and injuring 70 people, bears have killed 55-odd head of livestock in the state this year. The human casualty figures were 3 killed and 65 injured last year, and 1 killed and 53 injured in 2023. Over the last 25 years, 68 people have been killed in 1,972 bear attacks in the state.
State chief wildlife warden Abhimanyu Singh said villagers were being educated to be alert and keep their areas clean.
“We are patrolling the affected areas and have caught two bears. One bear was found dead in Chamoli. But many are still wandering around the villages for food,” he told reporters.
There appears no clear pattern to the attacks.
“I was returning home on my motorcycle on Saturday evening when a bear pounced on me. I jumped off the hillock and fell into a ditch,” Devendra Singh Farswan, 32, of Moli Hugar Tok village said at the Gopeshwar District Hospital in Chamoli.
A bear smashed the glass door of a computer printer shop in the Lincholi area of Kedarnath in Rudraprayag on Saturday and spent several minutes inside. CCTV footage suggests it was looking for food and returned disappointed.
“We’ll put up (trap) cages…. Pug marks suggest at least four bears have strayed into the area,” forest ranger Harishankar Singh Rawat told reporters.
The first death this year occurred on October 16 when Sundar Singh, 50, of Dumka in Chamoli was mangled by a bear. His wife Leela Devi, who tried to save her husband, is under treatment at AIIMS Rishikesh.