Dorje Dundul recently had his foot gnawed by a brown bear – a member of the species Ursus thibetanus, to be precise. It wasn't his first such encounter. Recounting the first of three such violent experiences over the past five years, Dorje told our research team: “My wife came home one
Budget 2026: The World Economic Forum estimates Non Communicable Diseases could cost India $4.58 trillion between 2012 and 2030. Budget 2026: As India charts its journey toward Viksit Bharat 2047, the focus rightly shifts from short-term growth to long-term economic endurance
Amazon said it's closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, as the online behemoth focuses on its grocery delivery, Whole Foods Market and a new "supersized" store concept. The Seattle-based online retailer said Tuesday in a blog post that it plans to convert some of those soon-to-be
Watch the viral video of astronaut Sunita Williams trying Falooda in Kerala. The retired NASA star charmed fans with her humility during her visit to the Kerala Literature Festival. Renowned astronaut Sunita Williams, who is currently on a high-profile visit to India
Joe Root hopes Harry Brook's 'beer smash' celebration will be "received the right way". The England captain marked his match-winning century against Sri Lanka by imitating a famous WWE wrestler. Brook was recently involved in a late-night drinking scandal where he was struck by a bouncer the night
A blockbuster final day of games in the Champions League's league phase in rich in dramatic potential, with 30 teams waiting for their fate to be decided. Six English clubs are eyeing top-eight spots, while there are notable familiar faces looking to get the better of their former employers
The PM Awas Yojana includes economically weaker sections, low-income groups, and middle-income groups. For those in the EWS category, the annual income should be up to Rs. 3 lakh. Everyone dreams of owning their own permanent home, but in this era of inflation, fulfilling this dream is not easy
(Bloomberg) -- Technology Secretary Liz Kendall promised to offer training in artificial intelligence for all UK workers as the government seeks to embrace a technology that it said has the potential to boost economic output by £140 billion ($193 billion) a year
In Nepal’s villages, outward migration is leaving elders vulnerable to bear attacks
Dorje Dundul recently had his foot gnawed by a brown bear – a member of the species Ursus thibetanus, to be precise.
It wasn't his first such encounter. Recounting the first of three such violent experiences over the past five years, Dorje told our research team: “My wife came home one evening and reported that a bear had eaten a lot of corn from the maize field behind our house. So, we decided to shoo it away. While my wife was setting up camp, I went to see how much the bear had eaten. The bear was just sitting there; it attacked me.”
Dorje dropped to the ground, but the bear ripped open his shirt and tore at his shoulder. “I started shouting and the bear ran away. My wife came, thinking I was messing with her, but when she saw the wounds, she knew what had happened.”
Researchers Dolma Choekyi Lama, Tsering Tinley and I spoke with Dorje – a 71-year-old resident of Nubri, a Buddhist enclave in the Nepalese highlands – as part of a three-year study of aging and migration.
Now, you may be forgiven for asking what a bear attack on a septuagenarian has to do with demographic change in Nepal. The answer, however, is everything.
In recent years, people across Nepal have witnessed an increase in bear attacks, a phenomenon recorded in news reports and academic studies.
Inhabitants of Nubri are at the forefront of this trend – and one of the main reasons is outmigration. People, especially young people, are leaving for education and employment opportunities elsewhere. It is depleting household labor forces, so much so that over 75% of those who were born in the valley and are now ages 5 to 19 have left and now live outside of Nubri.
It means that many older people, like Dorje and his wife, Tsewang, are left alone in their homes. Two of their daughters live abroad and one is in the capital, Kathmandu. Their only son runs a trekking lodge in another village.
Until recently, when the corn was ripening, parents dispatched young people to the fields to light bonfires and bang pots all night to ward off bears. The lack of young people acting as deterrents, alongside the abandonment of outlying fields, is tempting bears to forage closer to human residences.
Outmigration in Nubri and similar villages is due in large part to a lack of educational and employment opportunities. The problems caused by the removal of younger people have been exacerbated by two other factors driving a rapidly aging population: People are living longer due to improvements in health care and sanitation; and fertility has declined since the early 2000s, from more than six to less than three births per woman.
These demographic forces have been accelerating population aging for some time, as illustrated by the population pyramid constructed from our 2012 household surveys in Nubri and neighboring Tsum.
Nepal is not alone in this phenomenon; similar dynamics are at play elsewhere in Asia. The New York Times reported in November 2025 that bear attacks are on the rise in Japan, too, partly driven by demographic trends. Farms there used to serve as a buffer zone, shielding urban residents from ursine intruders. However, rural depopulation is allowing bears to encroach on more densely populated areas, bringing safety concerns in conflict with conservation efforts.
Dorje can attest to those concerns. When we met him in 2023 he showed us deep claw marks running down his shoulder and arm, and he vowed to refrain from chasing away bears at night.
So in October 2025, Dorje and Tsewang harvested a field before marauding bears could get to it and hauled the corn to their courtyard for safekeeping. The courtyard is surrounded by stone walls piled high with firewood – not a fail-safe barrier but at least a deterrent. They covered the corn with a plastic tarp, and for extra measure Dorje decided to sleep on the veranda.
He described what happened next:
“I woke to a noise that sounded like ‘sharak, sharak.' I thought it must be a bear rummaging under the plastic. Before I could do anything, the bear came up the stairs. When I shouted, it got frightened, roared and yanked at my mattress. Suddenly my foot was being pulled and I felt pain.”
Dorje suffered deep lacerations to his foot. Trained in traditional Tibetan medicine, he staunched the bleeding using, ironically, a tonic that contained bear liver.
Yet his life was still in danger due to the risk of infection. It took three days and an enormous expense by village standards – equivalent to roughly US$2,000 – before they could charter a helicopter to Kathmandu for further medical attention.
And Dorje is not the only victim. An elderly woman from another village bumped into a bear during a nocturnal excursion to her outhouse. It left her with a horrific slash from forehead to chin – and her son scrambling to find funds for her evacuation and treatment.
So how should Nepal's highlanders respond to the increase in bear attacks?
Dorje explained that in the past they set lethal traps when bear encroachments became too dangerous. That option vanished with the creation of Manaslu Conservation Area Project, or MCAP, in the 1990s, a federal initiative to manage natural resources that strictly prohibits the killing of wild animals.
Dorje reasons that if MCAP temporarily relaxed the regulation, villagers could band together to cull the more hostile bears. He informed us that MCAP officials will hear nothing of that option, yet their solutions, such as solar-powered electric fencing, haven't worked.
Dorje is reflective about the options he faces as young people leave the village, leaving older folk to battle the bears alone.
“At first, I felt that we should kill the bear. But the other side of my heart says, perhaps I did bad deeds in my past life, which is why the bear bit me. The bear came to eat corn, not to attack me. Killing it would just be another sinful act, creating a new cycle of cause and effect. So, why get angry about it?”
It remains to be seen how Nubri's residents will respond to the mounting threats bears pose to their lives and livelihoods. But one thing is clear: For those who remain behind, the outmigration of younger residents is making the perils more imminent and the solutions more challenging.
Dolma Choekyi Lama and Tsering Tinley made significant contributions to this article. Both are research team members on the author's project on population in an age of migration.
Geoff Childs is Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology, Washington University in St Louis.
This article was first published on The Conversation.
Source: Scroll
Related Posts: Communal tension in Nepal towns near India border Former Nepal PM Prachanda To Visit New Delhi Nepal prohibits gatherings Curfew extended in Nepal's Birgunj city as tension continues over TikTok video Nepal Announce Squad For ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 India-Nepal border coordination meet held in Nepal's Kailali ahead of polls in neighbouring country With Nepal’s largest party divided ahead of polls Nepal's ex-PM Deuba moves to SC against recognition of new faction of party Nepal skipper eyes new summit with nothing to lose at T20 World Cup Stray dog killing continues in Telangana villages
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is set to visit New Delhi to discuss alleged harassment during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise with MPs and Opposition leaders. This visit has led to the postponement of the state's interim budget, now scheduled for February 5
Just now
Differences have emerged within the INDIA bloc over the new University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations, with allies offering contrasting views on whether the framework addresses injustice or risks fresh discrimination on campuses. Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav defended the new rules
Just now
Parliament's Budget session begins with President Droupadi Murmu's address and will run in two phases until 2 April, with the Union Budget to be presented on 1 February. The Opposition, led by the Congress, is set to raise issues including MGNREGA, the Special Intensive Revision exercise
Just now
High up in the Italian Alps, far from busy roads and cities, there's a place so remote that the world below feels like a distant memory. It is surrounded by snow-capped peaks, thick tropical rainforest, and breathtaking scenery, which sits at a height of 15,000 feet above sea level
Just now
Fomer head coach Rahul Dravid credited Rohit Sharma for steering India into a new avatar in the limited-overs format. He also spoke about India's chances at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, starting on February 7. Former India captain and coach Rahul Dravid has credited Rohit Sharma with leading
Just now
Censorship claims, technical problems and a report of a surge in app deletions are just some of the challenges TikTok is facing as it adjusts to a new ownership structure in the United States that was finalized last week. The company said Monday it was experiencing a "major infrastructure issue
Just now
The stars and films in the running for next month's Bafta Film Awards, which celebrate the best on the big screen from the past 12 months, have been revealed. Thriller One Battle After Another leads the pack, followed by vampire horror Sinners, and then Hamnet
Just now
In a bizarre turn of events that had nothing, and yet everything, to do with the ongoing political controversy linked to Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, Ayodhya's GST commissioner has resigned over feeling “deeply hurt and pained" by the Shankaracharya's allegations against Uttar Pradesh
Just now
Nuclear tensions, climate breakdown and runaway technologies push the Doomsday Clock to its most dangerous setting ever. New Delhi: This week, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the Doomsday Clock, the world's most famous symbolic indicator of humanity's proximity to global
Just now
A 40-year-old client in a therapy session talks about people saying all the right things, but when it's time to act or show up, they fall short. She says, “I've started to feel frustrated both with my family and some of my friendships as I always seem to be the one taking the initiative and
Just now
Elina Svitolina delivered a stunning performance, defeating Coco Gauff in just 59 minutes to reach the Australian Open semi-finals. Svitolina will now face Aryna Sabalenka, who also advanced with a dominant win. Gauff's tournament ended in disappointment with an error-filled display
Just now
The US and UAE backed the IMEC trade corridor to improve connectivity between India, the Middle East and Europe. They also agreed to deepen cooperation in AI, trade and investment, highlighting strong economic ties and plans to strengthen secure, technology-driven supply chains
Just now
On November 27 last year, the Odisha police picked up 12 members of a family from a village in Kendrapara district on the suspicion that they were Bangladeshis. Barring three elderly people, all were released after nine days of detention. Since then
Just now
Arijit Singh's era as a playback singer has come to an abrupt and emotional close, leaving fans and the music industry in disbelief. The announcement arrived at a time when listeners were still soaking in three of his recent releases — Gehra Hua, Ghar Kab Aaoge
Just now
Indian traffic rarely follows the rules the way it appears in handbooks. It follows impatience. On busy roads, decisions are often made in seconds – skip the signal, squeeze past a gap, take the wrong side if it saves time. Most days, these moments go unnoticed. Some days, they end up online
Just now
Under severe pressure, Sophie Devine once again operated with precision under pressure, using the ball effectively and leading the Giants to second place on the points table with eight points. Sophie Devine held her nerve in a dramatic final over to defend nine runs
Just now
Arijit Singh, one of Bollywood's most celebrated voices, has announced his retirement from playback singing, leaving fans shocked and emotional. Arijit Singh Retirement: Renowned for his soulful romantic tracks in Bollywood, singer Arijit Singh has announced his retirement from playback singing
Just now
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered a freeze on new H-1B visa petitions across state agencies and public universities, citing concerns over misuse of the federal programme. The move, which will remain in place until 2027 unless approved by state officials
Just now
Republic Day: Several States of the US Northwest, in the Consulate's jurisdiction, including Alaska, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon and South Dakota, issued special proclamations honouring the Republic Day celebrations by the Consulate. The 77th Republic Day of India was celebrated in Olympia
Just now
Bangladesh polls: There are apprehensions that radicals will try to disrupt elections and deny the majority to BNP, pushing for a coalition government comprising Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI). The JeI has been emboldened following the outreach by the US and the UK
Just now
The trailer for Gandhi Talks, a silent black comedy starring Vijay Sethupathi, Arvind Swamy, and Aditi Rao Hydari, has been released, showcasing a story driven by emotion, silence, and A.R. Rahman's music. Mumbai: The makers of director Kishore Belekar's upcoming silent film, 'Gandhi Talks'
Just now
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated the BJP has a surplus of 32 assembly seats based on their 2024 Lok Sabha performance, where they secured 96 segments. He emphasized that with only 64 seats needed to form the government, the BJP is poised for a third consecutive term in the upcoming
Just now
The Taliban has formalised a class-based justice system in Afghanistan as part of its new criminal code, which has sparked global outrage and come under sharp criticism from human rights groups. Supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has enacted a new Criminal Procedure Code
Just now
India-Arab FM meet: The focus of the meet will be on the Gaza Peace Board, Palestinian issue, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, bilateral trade, investment, energy security and counter-terrorism cooperation, ET has learnt. Delhi: As many as 10 foreign ministers –– from
Just now
As I write this, it's Republic Day in India – the day we celebrate the Constitution as not just a founding text but a promise that a diverse country can hold together without turning difference into suspicion. And yet this year I spent Republic Day thinking about another constitution
Just now
Trump made the threat days after the dominant political bloc known as the Coordination Framework, a collection of Shiite parties, announced it was backing the nomination of al-Maliki, who the US administration views as too close to Iran. Washington: President Donald Trump warned Iraq on Tuesday
Just now
TAIPEI, - Senior Taiwanese and U.S. officials discussed cooperation in artificial intelligence, tech and drones at a high-level forum begun during the first Trump administration, with the U.S. State Department praising Taipei as a "vital partner." The U.S
Just now
