We are pleased to share with you our latest paper titled, ‘Safe space in the woods: Mechanistic spatial models for predicting risks of human–bear conflicts in India’. The aim of the study was to identify locations where people’s dependence on forest resources overlaps with areas of high risk of attacks by bears.
Many forested landscapes in India are shared by wildlife and people. This overlap sometimes leads to interactions between wildlife and people with negative consequences. In such shared spaces, conservation of wild animals, especially those that can be dangerous for people’s lives and livelihoods, can be challenging.
A team of scientists led by Dr. Mahi Puri, Dr. Arjun Srivathsa, Dr. Krithi K. Karanth, Imran Patel and Dr. N. Samba Kumar – have published a new study that focused on understanding sloth bear habitat use, their interactions with people and identified areas where people’s dependence on forests for resource extraction overlap with locations of high risk of bear conflict and attacks. It was published in the journal, Biotropica.
You can access the full paper here.
