New Study Maps Disease Risk Zones Where Livestock Meet Wildlife in Jammu and Kashmir

A new geographic study has mapped 34 potential foot-and-mouth disease risk zones across Jammu and Kashmir where seasonal livestock migration routes overlap with protected wildlife habitats. Researchers from the Central University of Jammu published these findings in the Virus Disease journal in July 2026, using GIS spatial analysis, herder surveys, and veterinary records. The mapping identified high-risk zones up to 5 kilometres from protected areas, alongside two buffer zones covering 5.1 to 10 kilometres and 10.1 to 15 kilometres respectively. Baramulla recorded the highest number of interfaces with 11, followed by Bandipora with nine, Rajouri with eight, and Ganderbal with seven, together making up more than 65 percent of the identified zones. Distances between livestock routes and protected boundaries ranged from 0.37 kilometres to 9.95 kilometres, with the closest interface occurring at Lachipora Wildlife Sanctuary in Baramulla. Other close intersections included sites near Dachigam and Srinagar, as well as the Sheshara interface in Rajouri. Every summer, Gujjar and Bakarwal pastoralists move their livestock from winter pastures in districts like Jammu, Rajouri, and Poonch to summer pastures in the Pir Panjal and Greater Himalayan ranges. These seasonal movements bring cattle, sheep, goats, and buffaloes into close proximity with endangered wild ungulates, including the hangul, Kashmir red deer, markhor, and Himalayan musk deer. Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral illness that affects cloven-hoofed animals and is endemic among livestock in India. Outbreaks among domestic animals were reported in July 2024 in Kargil, May 2024 in Bandipora and Pulwama, and widely across Budgam, Pulwama, and Srinagar in 2021. Experts note that while mass vaccination by the Animal Husbandry Department under the National Animal Disease Control Programme has helped reduce large-scale epidemics, focal outbreaks persist due to partially immunised livestock and seasonal pastoral travel. Although direct disease transmission from livestock to wildlife has not yet been confirmed in these specific areas, researchers warn that shared grazing grounds, water sources, and movement corridors create a clear risk of pathogen spillover. Wildlife veterinary officer Mohsin Ali Gazi pointed out that current surveillance is strictly livestock-centric, leaving a critical gap in monitoring wild species that might act as spillover victims or disease reservoirs.

Context

Foot-and-mouth disease spreads easily among cloven-hoofed animals through direct contact, aerosols, and contaminated pasture or water, surviving well in cold and damp mountain environments. As traditional grazing grounds increasingly overlap with protected forests, managing animal health requires cooperation between forestry, wildlife, and veterinary departments. Similar wildlife-livestock disease overlap issues have previously drawn concern in other parts of India, such as near the Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.