Forest fires can trigger short‑term displacement and longer‑term redistribution of wildlife into adjacent human‑dominated landscapes. This study examined fire‑related wildlife movement from forests toward agricultural fields in the Sunderbani Forest Range, Jammu and Kashmir, with emphasis on distance‑dependent migration intensity and crop damage. A structured distance‑gradient dataset covering 200–1000 m from the forest edge was used to code wildlife visitation frequency, document affected crops, and record visiting species and farmer‑reported reasons for movement (Migration of wildlife towards farm fields in Sunderbani Forest Range). Wildlife visitation was very high up to 300 m, high at 400–500 m, moderate at 600–700 m, least at 800 m, very least at 900 m, and almost nil at 1000 m  Linear regression showed a strong negative relationship between distance and visitation frequency, , with  and   Principal component analysis (PCA) on the standardised distance and frequency variables indicated that the first principal component (PC1) explained 95.46% of the variance, confirming a single dominant distance–frequency gradient  Wheat, vegetables, and sugarcane emerged as the most affected crops  The results identify a narrow but intense conflict zone within approximately 500–700 m of the forest edge and support spatially targeted fire and crop‑protection measures .

Keywords: forest fires, wildlife migration, crop depredation, distance gradient, principal component analysis, Sunderbani Forest Range