The rare animal, which had become elusive after militancy erupted in Kashmir in 1989, has been seen five times in the past 20 months, generating hope among conservationists that its population was increasing.

Wildlife experts say that the rare animal’s population had been decreasing as widespread violence and increased militarisation destroyed its habitat during the peak of militancy in mid 1990s. The animal was also killed by nomads who encroached its habitat with their livestock like sheep and goats after army closed some of the prime meadows in higher alpine areas to control militancy.

“People had presumed that there were no brown bears left in this part of the world. But since April 2014, to everybody’s surprise, we have spotted the brown bear five times,” said Mohammad Maqbool Baba, Wildlife Warden north Kashmir.

This year, three brown bears were found wandering around Handwara-Zachaldara belt of Kupwara district which lies close to Line of Control (LoC) and had been one of the volatile areas of Kashmir during peak of militancy.

Earlier, two bears were seen in Farkangali and Kachhama areas of the district in 2014. One animal was tranquillised in 2012 by the wildlife experts in Rajwara area of Kupwara.

The Himalayan brown bear is the smallest sub-species of the brown bear. While the population of main brown bear species remain widespread across the world, its Himalayan counterpart, spread around the northern mountainous areas of India and Pakistan, is critically endangered. They are already speculated to have become extinct in Bhutan while only 150-200 remain in Pakistan. There is no exact data available about the population of the animal in India.

Besides north Kashmir, the animal also used to wander in Srinagar’s Dachigam National Park, which is also the abode of black bear and Kashmir stag-Hangul.

Wildlife warden of the park, Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone said that he has never seen the animal despite spending past 25 years of his life in the field.

“The past two decades of disturbance destroyed the habitat of this sensitive animal. The animal loves upper alpine areas and we know how things turned out in Kashmir’s forests and mountains. When disturbance is such, it affects its breeding and hence population,” he said.

As there is less violence in the forests as compared to the mid 1990s, the conservationists think that the animal many have survived the onslaught owing to the relative calm in the Valley.

“Spooting these animals have given us some hope. It is a good beginning. I think its population is increasing,” Lone said. However, Kupwara forests block officer Ghulam Mohiuddin Mir said that the militancy has played some positive role in preventing poaching of this endangered animal.

“Before 1989, the animal was poached for its fur, claws and internal organs. But during militancy, authorities banned possession of arms in Kashmir. People would not dare to venture out into forests. So, I think there was less poaching in these two decades,” Mir said.

He believed that the animal was now coming down into the villages as its habitat was closed due to installation of fence on the LoC.

“The animals’ habitat lies across on both the sides of LoC. When there is a fence in between to stop them from venturing into forests of the other side, the animals are moving into human settlements for food,” he said.