Pratikkumar Desai, Nishith Dharaiya, Thomas Sharp, Dave Garshelis

Bear conservation relies heavily on the data and “expert opinions” of specialists. For bear species of Asia, it is rare to elicit information and opinions of wildlife professions who are not bear specialists. We sought to understand the current status of sloth bears and their habitat through a virtual survey of wildlife professionals on the Indian subcontinent. We used an online platform to administer a rangewide questionnaire in conjunction with a sloth bear range-mapping project conducted by the IUCN SSC Bear Specialist Group. A total of 107 wildlife professionals who were engaged in research, conservation, or management participated in the survey. They answered questions about their knowledge and experience with sloth bears, habitat, threats, human-bear conflict, killing, population trend, and conservation. Although 58% of respondents reported that they rarely or never directly encountered a sloth bear, 66% reported observing signs of sloth bear presence on a weekly to monthly basis, indicating strong reliance on indirect evidence. Only 17% of respondents believed sloth bear populations had increased over the past 10-15 years. The survey revealed habitat degradation (79%) and habitat loss (69%) as the most frequently perceived threats to sloth bears, followed by human-sloth bear conflict (46%), with poaching (17%) and other threats (21%) reported less often. Human injury risk dominates perceptions of conflict, reported by 94% of respondents. Crop loss was identified in nearly half the responses (47%), largely in combination with human safety concerns, while livestock depredation was comparatively less common (13%). Many (19%) reported that conflicts were increasing, and 21% were aware of cases of illegal killing of bears in their area. The study underscores the need for structured training, standardized monitoring, and improved synthesis of knowledge among field practitioners to strengthen sloth bear conservation efforts across their range.