Uri, Indian-administered Kashmir – Parveena Ganai, 45, remembers the day a leopard killed her 14-year-old son Shahid Ahmad, his physique later present in items close to their village of Turkaanjan in Indian-administered Kashmir’s distant Baramulla district.

It was a vibrant Sunday morning on June 12 – a college vacation for {the teenager}. He acquired a haircut, took bathe, ironed his faculty uniform and organised his books for the subsequent day.

Within the afternoon, he and his youthful brother took his household’s cows to graze within the close by forest. Shahid Ahmad by no means got here again.

“This was routine work for them. As quickly as they reached the forest, a leopard took him away in his jaws. His brother is shocked and nonetheless remembers Shahid’s final scream,” Ganai informed Al Jazeera at her dwelling perched on a hill within the village some 100km (62 miles) away from the Himalayan area’s fundamental metropolis of Srinagar.

Shakir Ahmad, who was together with his elder brother on the time, says he noticed Shahid within the leopard’s mouth, screaming, as he stood there frozen.

“Worry overwhelmed me. I assumed the leopard will kill me too,” the 12-year-old informed Al Jazeera. “I assumed if I’m killed, our household is not going to even discover our bones. I got here operating dwelling.”

Ganai stated Shakir has been in misery because the killing of his brother.

Little one victims

When the villagers got here to know concerning the incident, lots of of them rushed to the forest to find {the teenager}’s physique and had been quickly joined by wildlife and police officers.

“We began within the afternoon and looked for the physique until 2am,” Ganai stated.

At daybreak, Shahid’s mauled physique was positioned underneath the bushes.

“His head was separated from his physique. They had been at two totally different locations. One arm was lacking, perhaps he had tried to withstand together with his hand. It was devastating to seek for the physique elements,” Ganai stated, sobbing.

“We by no means heard of or witnessed such incidents right here earlier than. If we had any concept, we’d have by no means let our kids go together with the cows,” she stated.

Two days later, 5km (3.2 miles) away, a six-year-old woman was taken by a leopard because the household was strolling within the village.

“It occurred proper in entrance of my eyes and in a matter of seconds,” the woman’s mom Haleema Begum informed Al Jazeera at their home in Batangi village.

After an hour-long search, the woman’s physique was positioned by the villagers in a forest three kilometres (two miles) away. “On the finish, I used to be simply praying for her physique in order that I may have a grave to go to,” Haleema stated.

The third youngster killed in the identical district that week was 12-year-old Amir Muneer, a resident of Cholan Kalsi Ghati village.

Many of the victims of leopard assaults within the Himalayan area are younger kids who are sometimes caught unawares and unable to defend themselves.

On July 6, four-year-old Mehraz Azad was dragged from his uncle’s courtyard by a leopard half a mile into the woods in Rajwar village within the northern Kupwara district.

The boy was discovered by villagers inside half-hour, however he was badly injured with deep cuts to his face and physique. He died in hospital later.

In the identical district’s Monabal Haril village, one other four-year-old boy, Saqib-din-badana, died after he was attacked by a leopard on July 31.

This month, a toddler was attacked by a leopard on August 8 when he stepped out of his dwelling in Wagoora village. Although rescued shortly, his accidents proved deadly.

Human-wildlife battle

The native administration began maintaining information of human-wildlife conflicts in 2006. Since then, at the least 230 folks have died and a couple of,800 have been wounded, based on authorities figures.

In 2021-2022 alone, 12 folks had been killed and 31 wounded within the valley, sparking panic and offended demonstrations by residents.

Authorities figures reveal that forests in Indian-administered Kashmir have decreased by at the least 420 sq km (162 sq miles) between 2015 and 2019 as a result of infrastructure initiatives, timber smuggling, and rising demand for housing.

In consequence, extra wild animals are seen in areas with human habitations, resulting in a lethal battle that research say is growing “at an alarming charge”. Specialists have warned towards human settlements encroaching on animal habitats.

Along with leopards, Kashmiri villagers say black bears are popping out of the protected forest areas into residential areas.

Whereas the authorities have arrange emergency management rooms, there have additionally been situations the place locals have taken issues into their very own palms and fought the animals with the intent to kill them.

Final yr, a report by the United Nations Setting Program (UNEP) stated the battle between people and wild animals is among the fundamental threats to the long-term survival of among the world’s most essential species.

It stated India would be the most affected by the human-wildlife battle “as a result of it had the world’s second-largest human inhabitants in addition to giant populations of tigers, Asian elephants, one-horned rhinos, and Asiatic lions and different species”.

In a spot like Indian-administered Kashmir with principally hilly areas surrounded by forests, the fears of a worsening human-wildlife battle are leaving folks in villages sleepless.

“Earlier, there was a buffer zone between the forests and the human habitation however now all that has vanished,” Rashid Yahya Naqash, the area’s wildlife warden, informed Al Jazeera.

Naqash stated one of many causes for the rise in human-wildlife conflicts is “poor urbanisation planning which doesn’t handle the delicate surrounding ecology”.

“Within the final 40 years particularly, human settlements have taken place close to forests and that is the repercussion of it.”