Conflict bear translocation: Investigating population genetics and fate of bear translocation in Dachigam National Park, Jammu and Kashmir, India

The Asiatic black bear population in Dachigam landscape, Jammu and Kashmir is well recognized as one of the highest density bear populations in India. Increasing incidences of bear-human interactions and the resultant retaliatory killings by locals have become a serious threat to the survivorship of black bears in the Dachigam landscape. The Department of Wildlife Protection in Jammu and Kashmir has been translocating bears involved in conflicts, henceforth ‘conflict bears’ from different sites in Dachigam landscape to Dachigam National Park as a flagship activity to mitigate conflicts. We undertook this study to investigate the population genetics and the fate of bear translocation in Dachigam National Park. We identified 109 unique genotypes in an area of ca. 650 km2 and observed bear population under panmixia that showed sound genetic variability. Molecular tracking of translocated bears revealed that mostly bears (7 out of 11 bears) returned to their capture sites, possibly due to h...

查谟和克什米尔（Jammu and Kashmir）境内达奇加姆（Dachigam）区域的亚洲黑熊种群，是印度公认的黑熊密度最高的种群之一。人与黑熊互动事件的持续增多，以及由此引发的当地人报复性猎杀，已对该区域黑熊的生存构成严重威胁。查谟和克什米尔野生动物保护部门一直将达奇加姆区域内不同地点的冲突熊（conflict bears）迁地转移到达奇加姆国家公园（Dachigam National Park），以此作为缓解人熊冲突的标志性举措。本研究旨在探究达奇加姆国家公园内黑熊的种群遗传学特征，以及迁地转移黑熊的生存归宿。我们在约650平方千米的研究区域内鉴定出109个独特的基因型，并发现该黑熊种群处于随机交配（panmixia）状态，遗传多样性水平良好。对迁地转移黑熊的分子追踪显示，11头转移黑熊中有7头返回了其被捕获的地点，这可能是由于……