JICA survey on bear population to be completed by Feb

FOREST SECY HANDS OVER RELIEF MONEY TO BEAR ATTACK VICTIM 
GANGTOK, 31 Jan: A 60-year-old from Upper Payong, Lingee, who had been attacked by a Himalayan Black Bear yesterday, was brought to the STNM Hospital today for treatment. Chandra Man Rai, a farmer, was attacked by a bear at around 11 a.m. on 30 January while he was collecting fodder near his farm. The area where the attack took place is close to the Mainam Wildlife Sanctuary in South Sikkim.
“My brother was cutting grass in the morning, when the bear which was in the nearby kholcha that is around 10 to 15 feet away from the farm land attacked him,” informed the victim’s younger brother, Indra Kumar Rai, while speaking to media persons here at the STNM Hospital, today.
He has injury marks on the right side of his chest, left elbow and bite marks on the right side of his head. “We used to have visits by bears before, but this is the first time that a bear has attacked a person”, he added.
PCCF-cum-Secretary, Forest Department, ST Lachungpa, who visited the injured person at the STNM Hospital, while speaking to the media informed that this was the first incident in the area, but bears do get attracted to the smell of food and there was a need to avert such accidents in the future.
In the past few years as the forest cover area has grown so has the population of wildlife and no individual census of wildlife has been conducted in the state till now, he added. If the population of bears has grown, then culling of bears needs to be done, he stated.
The indirect effect of such an incident is that fear sets in within the minds of the people, but the direct effect is that this shows that there is forest growth, biodiversity is getting richer, which is a good indication for the environment and thus good for tourism too, the Secretary said.
Chief Wildlife Warden, Manjit Singh, in turn, informed that an international seminar on the proposed National Bear Conservation Plan is scheduled for November in Delhi by Ministry of Environment & Forests. “The meeting is tentatively proposed in November during which the Ministry will be discussing the National Bear Conservation Plan. They are collecting data from different States including Sikkim. The plan will be like the Tiger Project which will help us in getting funds for bear conservation and management,” he added.
Conservator of Forests [Wildlife], Gut Lepcha said that a survey is being done by Japanese International Cooperation Agency [JICA] researchers assisted by the Forest department in Sikkim forests to prepare a rough population estimate of Himalayan black bears in the State.
 “The survey started earlier this month and will be completed in February. Our forest personnel are guiding and providing all support to the survey team. They will submit a report to us with the approximate population estimate of bears in Sikkim and this report will be useful for the National Bear Conservation Plan”, said Mr Lepcha.
The team is setting up camera traps in the forests, recording the human-bear conflicts and crop damages by bear as part of the survey. The survey is being conducted in the different wildlife sanctuaries in different parts of the State. Two survey teams are presently at Pangolakha wildlife sanctuary in East Sikkim and Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary in West district.
The Secretary also handed over Rs. 5,000 as relief money to the victim, while the expense of the medical treatment of the victim is being borne by the Forest Department and all the medicines are being provided by the STNM Hospital.