In the quiet hill towns of the Nilgiris, late-night visitors have become increasingly common. CCTV footage from places like Coonoor and Kotagiri has shown sloth bears wandering through narrow lanes, entering bakeries, breaking into grocery shops, and rummaging through garbage dumps in search of food. Residents wake up to damaged doors, scattered food packets, and stories of unexpected encounters that have quickly become part of daily life.
Beyond every bear sighting in the Nilgiris lies a larger story of changing habitats, human expansion, and the urgent need for coexistence. [Photo © Wildlife SOS]
These scenes unfolding in the towns and villages of the Nilgiri Hills are happening with increasing regularity. But before we reach for words like ‘menace’ or ‘invasion’, we need to ask a harder question: what is bringing these animals to human locations in the first place?
A Forest That Is Running Out
The Nilgiri Hills, part of the UNESCO-recognised Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, were once a vast, contiguous stretch of shola forests, grasslands, and tropical deciduous woodland. Over the last century, that landscape has been radically altered. Expanding towns, roads, tourism infrastructure, tea estates, and settlements have steadily fragmented natural habitats. According to researchers at the Nature Conservation Foundation, much of the fragmentation in the Western Ghats happened largely because of the expansion of commodity crops, and the Nilgiris and Anamalais were among the very first to be transformed, with tea and coffee plantations replacing native forest cover.
Plantation landscapes are increasingly becoming part of wildlife movement routes across the Nilgiris. In changing landscapes, sloth bear mothers and cubs are forced to navigate spaces shared with people. [Photo © Wildlife SOS/ Abhiman]
For a wide-ranging species like the sloth bear, one that needs termite mounds, fruiting trees, water sources, and rocky dens spread across a large territory, this fragmentation is catastrophic. As natural food sources become harder to access in disturbed habitats, bears are increasingly venturing closer to human settlements.
Today, most areas occupied by sloth bears in India are either highly fragmented or at imminent risk of fragmentation due to rapidly changing land use and infrastructure development. A report released in 2011 cited that degradation and loss of forests has led to an estimated 30-49% decline in sloth bear populations over the last 30 years since then, which is a staggering loss for a species that was once widespread across the subcontinent.
The Nilgiris Is a Documented Hotspot
A peer-reviewed study published in Discover Conservation, analysing human-sloth bear conflict across 48 forest divisions in Tamil Nadu from 2016 to 2021, identified the Nilgiris, Sathyamangalam, Coimbatore, and Anamalai regions as the highest human-sloth bear conflict prone zones in the state. These are the areas where dense but fragmented forest sits directly against agricultural land and human habitation. The study found that habitat degradation and loss of natural food sources in these landscapes are directly pushing bears into human-dominated areas.
Easy access to human food waste can gradually alter natural foraging behaviour in sloth bears, which is a long term challenge for both people and animals. [Photo © Wildlife SOS/ Abhiman]
In Kagguchi village of Nilgiri district, residents found themselves living with this reality first-hand, as the sloth bears were regularly visiting a garbage dump, drawn by leftover food. With no waste bins and garbage scattered along roadsides, the village had inadvertently become a feeding ground. Their petition to the authorities was simple — inculcate proper waste management.
The Bear Did Not Choose This
Sloth bears are instinctively cautious. Studies show that even where their ranges overlap with human settlements, bears tend to avoid human presence at finer scales. When a bear raids a shop in Kotagiri, a hill station in the Nilgiris, it is not being aggressive, it is just responding to a landscape that has been transformed around it, one where the smells of human food drift into whatever forest corridors remain.
As forests become divided, animals are often left navigating unfamiliar and human-dominated spaces. [Photo © Wildlife SOS/ Abhiman]
Calling these animals ‘problematic’ or ‘nuisance-causing’ shuts down the conversation we need to have. It stops us from asking why, and if we stop asking why, we lose the chance to prevent the next encounter.
The Wildlife SOS Nilgiris Conservation Project
Understanding the problem is only the first step. Acting on it is another, and that is exactly what Wildlife SOS aims to do.
We are launching a dedicated conservation initiative in the Nilgiris, built around one central conviction: coexistence between people and sloth bears. This can be possible when you address the roots of conflict, not just its outcomes.
Understanding the landscape first
Before any meaningful intervention, there is a need to know what the pressure points are. Along with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, our team will conduct in-depth field research using camera trap surveys, population assessments, and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based conflict mapping. This will support studying sloth bear behaviour and movement patterns across high-risk zones. The goal to gather such data is to understand where and when sloth bears are moving, and why.
Turning research into action
Conflict mapping will directly feed into evidence-based mitigation strategies for sloth bear conflict zones. Rapid Response Units will be stationed in Coonoor, Ooty, and Kotagiri, in order to respond to emergencies swiftly and assist affected communities without putting either people or animals at further risk.
The rivers, forests, and rolling hills of the Nilgiris form critical wildlife habitats, reminding us that conservation begins long before conflict occurs. [Photo © Wildlife SOS/ Abhiman]
Giving the forest a fighting chance
Conflict mitigation cannot be separated from habitat health. The project will work to strengthen existing forest cover and improve habitat connectivity across conflict-prone areas, including the plantation of 10,000 wildlife-friendly native trees. This will directly address the food scarcity that pushes bears into human spaces in the first place.
Putting communities at the centre
No conservation project survives without the people who live inside it. We will run training workshops for forest officials, frontline conservationists, and local communities, and distribute bear-safe practice guides and conservation toolkits.
Building something permanent
A dedicated research centre will serve as a hub for data storage, analysis, and community education, ensuring that the knowledge generated by this project remains accessible, and actionable, for years to come.
The sloth bears of the Nilgiris do not need sympathy. They need science, strategy, and compassionate communities that understand why coexistence is worth fighting for. That is what this project aims to deliver. You can support the Wildlife SOS Nilgiris Conservation Project by donating now. Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is one of India’s most extraordinary landscapes. With the right actions, this can remain a precious place to sustain both people and wildlife.
Feature image: Akash Dolas/ Wildlife SOS
