SRINAGAR: Five people were injured in an attack by a leopard who was later killed by villagers in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.
A leopard attacked residents of Bedar village close to the Mandi forest area injuring five, two of them critically, Tuesday evening, officials said.
Later, angry villagers, armed with rods and stones, killed the leopard, they said.
The seriously injured were shifted to district hospital Poonch for treatment, the officials said.
To protest attacks by...
Posted 83 days ago.
JAMMU: Thousands of Pashmina goats may have perished in recent heavy snowfall around the nomadic areas of Changthang on the Sino-Indian frontier of the Ladakh region, officials said on Friday.
The area is a production hub for the finest quality of Pashmina (Kashmir) wool in India and is used in manufacturing of popular Kashmiri shawls sold across the world.
"Since 1962, this is an unprecedented snowfall in the area and it has severely affected our nomadic way of life and livestock....
Posted 88 days ago.
SRINAGAR: The world-famous 'Ambri' apple of Kashmir has fallen victim to climate change with horticulturists fearing that the mouth-watering variety might vanish if the weather conditions continue to deteriorate, a report said on Wednesday.
Ambri is crisper than other varieties and is indigenous to Kashmir as the efforts to plant this variety in other hill states have proved futile. Over the years, it has gained popularity as "heritage of Kashmir".
A group of agriculturists from Kashmir,...
Posted 91 days ago.
KUPWARA: Taking full advantage of the recent unrest in the Valley, the timber smugglers have unleashed a loot in the forests across Kupwara district. Demanding stern action against the smugglers, locals have expressed concern over the alleged inaction of the forest officials against the smugglers.
Reports said smuggling of timber was going on unabated in the forest compartment No. 53 of Doolipora forests near Trehgam. Sarpanch of...
Posted 93 days ago.
SRINAGAR: The number of endangered Asiatic black bears in Kashmir has jumped between 30 and 60 percent as militancy related violence that killed thousands of people since 1989 has scared off poachers, wildlife officials say.
An increased security presence in Himalayan forests to root out militants, as well as a ban on hunting, has helped curb poaching and allowed the population of bears to increase from between 800 to 900 animals in 1990.
Officials say poachers - who hunt the mammals for...
Posted 94 days ago.
SRINAGAR: An explosion in the population of Himalayan porcupine threatens to wreak havoc on the saffron and vegetable crops and fruit trees in Kashmir Valley.
Long-time residents say they have no memory of the animal; its sighting is a new phenomenon. Wildlife experts and researchers, however, hold that the animal, a rodent, is a native of the area.
Its shrinking habitat and human interference in forest areas have caused the porcupines to move to human habitations. Porcupines have a taste...
Posted 108 days ago.
BARAMULLA: A leopard mauled an 11-year-old boy to death on Saturday when he was playing with his friends in north Kashmir, another addition to incidents lately which underline a growing man-animal conflict in the Himalayan region.
The animal, officials said, roamed into Kreeri village in Baramulla from a nearby forest and attacked Kamran Ahmed Ganai before fleeing back.
The boy died of serious injuries at a hospital.
Residents of the area took to the streets shouting slogans against...
Posted 108 days ago.
Feb 2 is observed as the World Wetlands Day; marking the Ramsar Convention, held on this day in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
The convention on wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance and to plan for the "wise use", or sustainable use, of...
Posted 108 days ago.
JAMMU: Stressing on the need to promote wildlife tourism in Jammu and Kashmir, a state minister today said it has a great potential to draw tourists to the state.
Concerned authorities have been asked to launch an awareness campaign about wildlife destinations in Jammu and Kashmir, state Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment Mian Altaf Ahmad said at Nagrota here.
He inspected the proposed site for setting up a Zoo at Khanpur Nagrota.
Posted 112 days ago.
SRINAGAR: A leopard blamed for attacking half a dozen people in north Kashmir was brutally stoned to death by angry villagers, media reports said on Tuesday.
The leopard which had injured villagers, including women and children, in Gulgam area of Kupwara was attacked from all directions, even after wildlife officials sedated it.
"The police and wildlife officials reached the spot and successfully tranquilised the animal to evacuate it to some safer place," TNS qouted police as...
Posted 120 days ago.
