THE RED BEAR 
( URSUS ISA BELLINUS 
r HIS animal, often spoken of as the snow, or red, bear and 
known to the Kashmiris as lal bhalu , is a good deal scarcer 
than it used to be, and the number allowed the sportsman 
on his licence has now been limited. 
It lives at a higher elevation than the black bear, and is 
seldom if ever found in the timber, and in the spring and late 
autumn carries a very fine coat. 
The red bear is a comparatively harmless animal and seldom takes 
to cattle killing. As with all this tribe the eyesight is poor, but the sense 
of smell acute. The claws are longer than those of Ursus torquatus and 
are brown in colour. The track left by these animals is extraordinarily 
like that made by a man’s naked foot. 
As they are generally stalked and shot on the open hillside, while grubbing 
for the young grass and roots where the snow has melted, accidents with 
red bears are rare, though it might be otherwise if they were come upon 
suddenly. They seem to sleep continuously through the winter, and I have 
never heard of their being seen abroad at that time. 
Probably Kishtwar and Chamba are the best places to look for them, 
but they are also found in Chilas and Gilgit. While hunting markhor 
in the former district I was nearly run over by one which was disturbed 
by my tiffin coolie on the hill above and came blundering past within 
ten yards. I shot her before I realized that she was accompanied by two 
cubs, which I left in the hope that they were big enough to take care of 
themselves. 
125 
