Anantnag, Sept 26: A series of wild-animal attacks left five people critically injured in the Dooru area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Friday morning.
Locals and officials said a black bear that strayed from nearby paddy fields carried out three separate attacks across Kralmad and Wavthar villages, injuring four people, Saja Banoo (Wavthar), Ghulam Mohammad Bhat (Wavthar), Sabzar Ahmad Seh (Sadiwara) and Abdul Rasheed (Buman Sadiwara).
All four were shifted to Government Medical College (GMC) Anantnag for treatment and were described as in serious condition. In a separate incident at Manzmoh village, a leopard mauled Bashir Ahmad Dar, who was likewise moved to GMC Anantnag in critical condition.
Villagers described chaotic scenes as people fled into lanes and homes after the animals appeared in cultivated tracts during the morning hours. “People were working in the fields when the bear suddenly appeared and attacked. There was panic,” a villager told the news agency Kashmir News Trust.
Friday’s assaults are the latest in a mounting pattern of man-animal conflict across Kashmir. District and hospital records in recent months show repeated bear and leopard encounters, with several serious maulings reported from Anantnag and neighbouring belts through 2024–25.
Independent trackers and conservation groups have documented multiple incidents this year in which villagers, shepherds and children were injured, and in some past cases killed by wild animals entering villages and paddy lands.
A Wildlife official warned that a mix of shrinking habitat, expanded cultivation, and readily available food at garbage points is pushing animals closer to human habitations.
Medical authorities at GMC Anantnag said all five victims were receiving emergency care.
Police and wildlife teams said investigations into the Friday incidents would assess whether a single animal was involved in multiple attacks or different animals were responsible, and would also map likely attraction points, such as open garbage dumps or crop residues, that may have lured the animals into villages. (KNT)
