Several people termed the incident heartbreaking and inhuman | Screenshots from Twitter/Mahmood Ah Shah

A shocking video has gone viral on social media showing a brown bear tumbling into a stream from a steep mountain ridge after being stoned by people in Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting authorities to launch an operation to trace the animal.

The eight-second video -- shared on Twitter by former director Tourism, Kashmir, Mehmood Shah - shows a brown bear being stoned by people in Drass area of Kargil district in Ladakh region of the state.

The bear had climbed a steep mountain ridge after being chased by the people from the nearby village, but fell into a stream after losing balance as stones were thrown at the animal.

The people could be heard cheering as the animal tumbled into the stream.

WATCH | BEAR TUMBLES OFF CLIFF AFTER STONES THROWN AT IT IN KARGIL

This is macabre, happened today at Drass. pic.twitter.com/rtnqzghLF3 Mahmood Ah Shah (@mashah06) May 9, 2019

The incident sparked outrage on the social media as several people termed it heartbreaking and inhuman.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter and condemned the incident.

"Heartbreaking and inhuman. Why invade their habitat in the first place?" Mehbooba wrote on Twitter while sharing the video clip.

Heartbreaking & inhuman. Why invade their habitat in the first place? https://t.co/gJQvh3QzUp Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) May 10, 2019

Several netizens have demanded that the people behind the stone throwing on the animal be identified and brought to book.

After the incident came to the fore, the authorities have launched an operation to trace the bear and are also trying to identify the people involved in the act.

Deputy commissioner, Kargil, Baseer-ul-Haq Choudhary has ordered an enquiry and teams from the wildlife and other departments have been constituted to trace the brown bear.

"An FIR has been registered," the DC said.

The DC added that they were also trying to identify the people who threw stones at the bear due to which it slipped into the stream and action would be taken against them.