Rare Himalayan brown bear spotted in Kinnaur after seven-year gap. Watch

In the high, cold valleys of Kinnaur, tucked deep within the folds of the Great Himalayan range, something extraordinary happened in the second week of May 2026.

A Himalayan brown bear, one of India’s rarest and most endangered large mammals, was seen and photographed in the Rakcham-Chitkul Wildlife Sanctuary, Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh.

According to the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department, it was the first confirmed photographic record of the animal in the sanctuary in nearly seven years.

The team that witnessed the sighting included Block Forest Officer Santosh Kumar Thakur and his colleagues from the forest department, celebrated ornithologist and naturalist Gary Bhatti, and researchers Dr Bishwarup Satpati and Dr Rahul Deb Mandal.

According to the forest department, the team was conducting a wildlife survey as part of Bird Count 2026 when the bear appeared before them.

Bhatti, who has spent decades observing wildlife across the Indian subcontinent, described the encounter on his social media as one of the most incredible of his career.

WHAT IS THE HIMALAYAN BROWN BEAR?

The Himalayan brown bear, known scientifically as Ursus arctos isabellinus, is a subspecies of the brown bear.

Think of a subspecies as a distinct regional variety of the same species that has developed slightly different characteristics over time, much like how different varieties of mango belong to the same fruit family.

According to the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department, this subspecies inhabits high-altitude landscapes above 2,500 metres across Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Adults can weigh between 135 and 250 kilograms. Largely solitary and primarily herbivorous, with its diet including mostly plants, berries, roots, and insects, the bear is a formidable yet deeply elusive creature.

In India, the Himalayan brown bear is classified as Critically Endangered, the highest risk category before extinction in the wild.

It is also listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which grants it the same level of legal protection as the tiger.

WHY DOES THIS SIGHTING MATTER?

According to Ashok Negi, IFS, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Himachal Pradesh, the only previous photographic record of the bear in this sanctuary dates to 2016-17, documented by forest official Gopal Negi.

Ashok Negi confirmed that this new sighting represents the second confirmed photographic evidence ever recorded in the sanctuary and described it as a meaningful indicator of the sanctuary’s ecological health.

When apex species, or animals at the top of the food chain, are found in a habitat, it typically signals that the ecosystem beneath them is functioning well, forest officials noted.

For conservationists and forest officials in Kinnaur, this brief, breathtaking appearance of a brown bear in the snow-edged wilderness is not just a moment of wonder.

It is proof that the mountains, if left alone, still keep their secrets.