Srinagar: As dusk envelops the sky, scores of locals from Kupwara’s Rajpora village prepare themselves for a bigger task.
Guarding the graves against bear intrusion has become a daunting task for villagers.
For the last one month, bears have broken into cemeteries and vandalized the graves in various villages of the Rajwara area.
The graveyard in Handwara where a bear dug up graves
Locals said the bear digs graves, exhumes bodies and throws them at a distance. Panic gripped the villagers after the unusual activities of the bears.
“Initially, we were very much frightened to see corpses being dug out from graves. Later, we came to know that a bear was doing it. People are very much scared,” said Syed Muhammad Shafi, a resident of Rajpora village.
Similar, incidents have been witnessed in other villages including Behnipora, Budshungi, and Shatigam where locals found graves in the cemetery dug by a bear.
“The bear doesn’t eat corpses, but it only throws them away at distant places. We are sure that many bears are roaming at night in these villages,” Shafi said.
To protect the graves of ancestors, people are now guarding graveyards throughout the night.
Led by a group of local volunteers, the community devised a comprehensive plan to protect the graves and discourage the bear from intruding into the cemetery.
“We remain vigilant throughout the night and guard the cemetery. Some 8-10 people voluntarily spend the whole night protecting the graveyard. It has worked for us since no such incident took place in many villages ever since people started guarding the graveyard,” Shafi said.
Panchayat member Syed Imtiyaz told The Kashmir Monitor that the police, the wildlife department, and the local population have joined hands to catch the bear.
“Police installed lights around the graveyard recently. The bear was spotted many times. However, the wildlife department has failed to catch it. Left with no option, people now guard the graveyard themselves,” he said.
Wildlife department said they have already laid a trap to catch the bear
“It is a brown bear, which earlier was very rare in plains. It has descended from areas including Gurez. We are working on it and a trap has been already laid there to catch the bear,” he said.
A wildlife department official informed that bears are opportunistic hunters as they prefer food that is easily available to them.
“Although humans aren’t their typical prey, they will eat almost anything that they scavenge,” he said.
