A female Himalayan brown bear and her two cubs have been captured on camera in the remote Rakcham-Chitkul Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district, a high-altitude frontier zone bordering China. Conservationists have described the sighting as a landmark moment for wildlife protection and biodiversity in the region.
The footage was recorded by a forest department field team comprising Block Forest Officer Santosh Kumar Thakur, forest guards Chhayanand, Akshay, and Pawan Kumar, along with forest volunteer Alpana Negi. Renowned ornithologist and naturalist Gary Bhatti, accompanied by researchers Dr Bishwarup Satpati and Dr Rahul Deb Mandal, were also present during the sighting.
The Himalayan brown bear holds the highest level of legal protection under Schedule I of India's Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Its population is spread across 23 protected areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
What makes this sighting particularly exceptional is the bear's notoriously reclusive nature. Unlike the Asian black bear, which thrives below 2,000 metres and is known to damage crops and move in groups, the brown bear rarely descends below 2,500 metres and is almost entirely solitary. It gathers only during the birthing season, making the appearance of a mother with two cubs a genuinely rare spectacle.
Weighing between 100 and 150 kilogrammes and standing close to six feet upright, the Himalayan brown bear is smaller than its North American counterpart. Roughly 90 per cent of its diet comprises herbs and plants, with only a fraction being carnivorous. Experts note the species is generally gentle in temperament.
Wildlife enthusiasts have welcomed the sighting with considerable excitement, with conservationists adding that the bears' presence signals a thriving and ecologically sound environment in this sensitive Himalayan corridor.
(With inputs from Anil Negi)
