Primary health centres lack vaccines, staff, and emergency facilities, delaying the response time after such attacks. 

Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir: On a summer afternoon last year, Farooq Ahmad Hajam (40) was tending his sheep in the orchards of Satura village in Tral town of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district when a black bear lunged from the trees.

“The bear first attacked me, biting deep into my leg, then went after another man,” Hajam recalled. “We somehow managed to drive it away. My colleagues carried me about one kilometre to the nearest Primary Health Centre.”

There, the staff could do little beyond dressing his wound and giving him a tetanus shot. “There was no anti-rabies vaccine available,” Hajam said. “We used a private vehicle provided by a local person to reach the hospital.”

The Subdistrict Hospital in Tral is about 15 kilometres away. According to locals, it usually takes 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive if one is requested from there, so residents usually find a way to get there rather than rely on the ambulance service. 

From Tral, Hajam was referred again, this time to Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital, nearly an hour’s drive away.

The long chain of referrals left him with a partial disability. “If I had received treatment immediately at the PHC, I might have recovered fully,” said Hajam, who works as a labourer. “Now, 30% of my work capacity is gone.”

Delayed response

Another resident, Mukhtar Ahmed Mir (35) from Zantrag village, was attacked by a bear while working in paddy fields with his family on September 16. 

“I froze at its first roar,” he said. “At the second, it leapt at me. I tried to fight back but couldn’t.”

Villagers carried him six kilometres to the Primary Health Centre in Khrew, where staff bandaged his wounds and administered a vaccine before referring him to SMHS Hospital in Srinagar. He stayed there for six days.

Afroza Bano (35) from the neighbouring area was also mauled and remains under treatment, he added.

Dr Jawahira Akhter, the Block Medical Officer in Tral, said around 30 people from the area report wildlife-related injuries each year, mostly from bears and leopards.

“Most cases are referred to the subdistrict hospital, which provides basic wound dressing, splints, and fluids during emergencies,” she said.

Severe cases, such as trauma to the face or eyes, crushed tissue, compound fractures, or organ damage, require care at tertiary hospitals. “These need plastic surgery or super-speciality treatment, which we cannot provide locally,” Dr Jawahira added. 

The absence of such facilities means precious time is lost. The subdistrict hospital in Tral is 44 kilometres from the nearest tertiary centre in Srinagar, a journey that can take hours over hilly terrain.

View of the Health and Wellness Centre in Zuastan village, located 21 kilometres from Tral (Photo - Muazam Mohi Ud Din, 101Reporters)

Strain of geography 

The scale of the crisis is reflected in government records. Forest Minister Javed Ahmed Rana told the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly that 32 people died and 269 were injured in man-wildlife conflicts over the past two years, including 124 injuries in 2023-’24 and 145 in 2024-’25.

Yet most of Tral’s primary health centres struggle to maintain even basic emergency preparedness.

Dr Jawahira said cold-chain maintenance is a major challenge. “A vial of anti-rabies vaccine contains five doses, and once opened, the remaining doses must be used within 48 hours or they spoil,” she said. “Without reliable refrigeration, it is difficult to store them safely.”

Since this area has frequent bear attacks, PHCs and Health and Wellness Centres must be better equipped with anti-rabies vaccines, rabies immunoglobulins, and other necessary medical facilities,” she said.

Dr Shahnawaz of Health and Wellness Centres, Zuastan village, 21 kilometres from Tral, said, “In most cases, locals provide the first response. We can only give basic medicines for common illnesses.”

“We cannot manage animal attack injuries here. We don’t have rabies and tetanus shots, and we lack a cold storage facility, which is required to safely store vaccines that must be kept between 2°C and 8°C,” he added. 

In Pranigam, two kilometres away, patients are sometimes carried from their homes to the centre. “With no additional staff or proper facilities, we have no option but to refer them to Tral, 21 kilometres away,” said Dr Shahnawaz. 

(Above) Roshan Khan points to the spot where his 5-year-old daughter, Tanzeela, was killed in a leopard attack; (Below) Wildlife officials and residents pose for a photograph during a search operation to capture a leopard (Photo - Muazam Mohi Ud Din/101Reporters)

Compounding losses

The human cost goes beyond injuries. For villagers like Hajam, the impact is both medical and economic. “A wound heals slowly,” he said, “but work lost never returns.”

The injury cost him roughly Rs 1 lakh in lost wages and Rs 30,000 in medical expenses. He eventually received Rs 25,000 in compensation from the Forest Department months after the attack.

According to a June 2023 government order, victims of wildlife attacks are entitled to ex gratia relief based on severity — Rs 5 lakh in case of death, Rs 2 lakh for permanent incapacitation, Rs 20,000 for grievous injuries requiring over 48 hours of hospitalisation, and up to Rs 25,000 for minor injuries.

But villagers say the process drags on for months, involving multiple approvals from doctors, police, and the wildlife department. “It is not enough to cover six or seven months of pay loss due to labour and treatment,” Hajam said.

Families of those killed face even deeper trauma. On September 6, a five-year-old girl, Tanzeela, was mauled by a leopard in Midoora village of Tral. “I was in deep shock and couldn’t work for about a month,” said her father, Roshan Khan, a labourer. “The incident broke me.”

According to the Department of Wildlife Protection, 264 people have been killed and 3,164 injured in wildlife attacks in Kashmir between 2006 and March 2024. Health workers say that without timely treatment, even survivors risk infections, disability, or long-term complications.

Both residents and medical officers agree that better preparedness is essential. “At the very least, PHCs in wildlife-prone areas should have anti-rabies vaccines, additional staff, and ambulances linking them to subdistrict hospitals,” said Dr Jawahira.

“Tral is a big area and prone to wild animals,” Hajam said. “Such incidents should be treated here itself. We should not have to travel to Srinagar.”

Cover image: Mukhtar Ahmed Mir recovers after being injured in a bear attack (Photo - Muazam Mohi Ud Din/101Reporters)