Awareness meeting to limit human-sloth bear interactions in Nilgiris held

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A sloth bear crossing the road at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. File | Photo Credit: M. Sathyamoorthy

An awareness meeting on limiting negative interactions between bears and residents was conducted on Friday (September 18, 2026) at Kil Kundha in the Nilgiris.

The event was organised by the forest department from the Mukurthi Forest Range of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and was attended by residents as well as those from surrounding areas such as Manjoor.

The forest department said residents expressed concerns about increased sloth bear movement near their villages and discussed measures to limit negative interactions between people and the animals.

Wildlife experts including B. Ramakrishnan, head of the department of wildlife biology at the Government Arts College in Udhagamandalam and Chandrasekar Das from the Keystone Foundation, participated in the event.

The forest department said that the guests showed local residents awareness videos and presented a visual slide show dealing with local problems and how behaviour of bears and their habits could be used to learn how to negate negative interactions between people and the animals.

The meeting comes after increased sightings of sloth bears, which are being drawn into towns in the Nilgiris, particularly in Kundha and Kotagiri taluks, due to improper waste disposal.

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