SRINAGAR, Oct 14: Attacks by a domestic horse and a wild bear have killed two people in Kashmir valley, police said on Sunday.
A horse trampled to death a woman in sedow village of south Kashmir’s shopian area, in a first such incident in the recent past in this Himalayan region where attacks on humans by wild animals are increasing.
Doctors who treated Halima Akhtar, 45, at a Srinagar hospital said she succumbed to her injuries an hour after she was brought for treatment.
The horse rider, Ama Shah, has been arrested, police said.
Meanwhile in another incident, 70-year-old Abdul Rehman Lone was mauled and killed by a bear in his apple orchard in south Kashmir, the third attack by wild animals in the Valley during past 24 hours.
Wildlife officials say Leopard and Himalayan black bear populations have increased after a ban on hunting was enforced in Kashmir in 1970, and the loss of pine forests is causing man-animal conflict to rise.
Nearly half a dozen people have been killed so far this year by wild animals and scores others have been injured, wildlife officials say.
The fresh incident took place on Saturday evening in Srigufwara area of Anantnag district south of Srinagar.
Another boy was seriously wounded in the bear attack.
At the weekend, a man was dragged from his mud house in south Kashmir by a leopard as he slept and a woman was mauled by a black bear in the valley.
Authorities have set up control rooms and are distributing leaflets urging people living near forests to take precautions to prevent more casualties.
Police say at least six bears and leopards have been killed by villagers and authorities in the last ten months after attacking local people.
