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Meeting of the National Steering Committee for Project Snow Leopard, India

Ministry of Environment and Forests

Government of India
12th March 2011

Press Note

Meeting of the National Steering Committee for Project Snow Leopard

The Project Snow Leopard (PSL), inaugurated in January 2009, is a participatory conservation programme of the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) for strengthening wildlife conservation in the unique high altitudes of India. This pioneering initiative aims at holistic conservation of Snow Leopard landscapes with the inclusion and support of local communities, civil society organizations and reputed scientists. The 2nd meeting of the National Steering Committee for this project took place on 11th March 2011 and was chaired by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests (I/C) Shri Jairam Ramesh. In addition to the senior officials from the five Snow Leopard states of India, the committee includes scientists and experts from Nature Conservation Foundation, Wildlife Institute of India, World Wildlife Fund and Wildlife trust of India, all of whom attended the meeting. Most importantly, representatives of the army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, who have a large presence in all snow leopard areas, were also present for dialogue.

Various developments and bottlenecks of the project were deliberated. The committee reviewed the progress made by individual states in identifying Snow Leopard landscapes on a scientific basis and preparing appropriate Management Plans. The participants also discussed critical issues regarding streamlining of mechanisms for state-wise disbursement of funds. All states suggested the need for greater capacity building, improvement of facilities, and providing “difficult-area” incentives to field staff vital impetus for improving on-ground monitoring and protection.

The Committee has decided to streamline the preparation of Management Plans by issuing guidelines to all member states based on the extensive work done by Nature Conservation Foundation in Himachal Pradesh. NCF was also identified as the anchor institution for all technical and scientific matters related to the Snow Leopard Project.

The Minister also identified the need for a more structured dialogue with the Army and the ITBP, to facilitate a deeper involvement of these bodies in conservation issues in the snow leopard landscapes. In conclusion, Shri Jairam Ramesh underscored the importance of involving international expertise and exchanging know-how on snow leopard conservation, and proposed the idea of India hosting an international conference on conservation of snow leopards and mountain landscapes.

Mongolia revokes decision to allow leopard hunting for science

English.news.cn 2011-03-23 20:45:12

ULAN BATOR, March 23 (Xinhua) — The Mongolian government had revoked a decision it made earlier this month to allow foreigners to hunt leopards for scientific purpose, local media reported Wednesday.

Mongolian Environment and Tourism Minister L. Gansukh canceled the permission to kill four leopards for scientific purpose this year, after meeting researchers and representatives of non-government organizations to discuss the issue.

The researchers opposed the decision made by the cabinet on March 2. They said genetic research and other modern technologies made it possible to do scientific research without killing the highly endangered species.

The decision to allow four leopards to be hunted incurred opposition worldwide. Snow Leopard Network, a major organization aimed at protecting the species, sent a written appeal to the government, urging it to reverse its decision.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement which entered into force in 1975 to protect wild animals and plants, has listed the snow leopard as one of species threatened with extinction which are or may be affected by trade.

Snow leopards normally live between 3,000 and 5,500 meters above sea level in the rocky mountain ranges of Central Asia. According to a survey conducted in 2009 and 2010, there are more than 1,200 leopards in Mongolia.

Editor: Fang Yang

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-03/23/c_13794720.htm

Radio collar unfolding mysteries of snow leopard, Chitral District, Pakistan

Sunday, March 20, 2011

PESHAWAR: The joint venture of Wildlife department and some international organizations to tie satellite radio collar to a snow leopard in Chitral district provided unique opportunity to researchers to explore and study the obscure habits of rare big cat.

“Snow leopard is considered as cryptic in nature because the animal resides in one of the harshest and most inaccessible mountainous areas due to which it was almost impossible for wildlife biologist to explore its life,” said Muhammad Ali, deputy conservator, Wildlife Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Talking to APP, Muhammad Ali said the attempt to tie up satellite collar by Wildlife department, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and International Snow Leopard Trust provided a base to biologists to study and unfold the mysteries shrouding the life and habit of this elusive wild specie.

This obscure nature of the creature has led to it being labelled as the “Imperiled Phantom” by eminent wildlife biologists, remarked Muhammad Ali.

It was a first ever successful endeavor that a snow leopard was trapped in the mountainous Chiltral district and tied up with a satellite collar. Earlier, he said, attempts were made in India and Nepal, but results were not satisfactory. However now the mystery is uncovering with the passage of time and the data collected through satellite collar has provided opportunity to the biologists to learn about the snow leopard and take measures for its conservation and preservation.

The deputy conservator said snow leopard is a top predator and its existence ensures that a strong eco system is intact. The biologists, he continued, wanted to conserve snow leopard to ensure existence of strong eco system and if this rare specie become extinct, it will be a great damage to natural system of existence of human being and other species.

He said the study in Chitral district informed biologist about the range of snow leopard in Chitral and adjacent Afghanistan areas. Now we are aware that where the snow leopard can be found during winter and summer seasons.

Furthermore, he added, the attempt of exploring snow leopard life encouraged the researcher and they made second attempt in Mangolio and got more data and information.

Similarly, three snow leopards were snapped in a single shot at the Khunjerab National Park (KNP). This took place during a 450 nights’ camera trapping session through November and December last year.

In addition to camera trapping an area greater than 1, 400 square kilometres was scanned during occupancy surveys and 150 faecal samples were collected for genetic analysis.

Once data analysis is completed, the study will provide more reliable estimates of snow leopards besides highlighting existing management and monitoring limitations which will ultimately help in better managing park resources in the long run.

Wildlife official expressed the hope that soon the obscure life of snow leopard will become open to the biologists and better measures could easily be adopted for conservation of top predator of the ecosystem.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=37142&Cat=7&dt=3/20/2011

‘Ordinary guy’ Putin meets snow leopard

‘Ordinary guy’ Putin meets snow leopard
(AFP) – 6 hours ago

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stood metres away from a snow leopard in his latest stunt involving a threatened animal but insisted Monday he was just an “ordinary guy” in touch with Russia’s problems.

Putin knelt metres away from the snow leopard, kept in a wire-mesh enclosure, as the mythical animal warily eyed the man who has dominated Russia for the last decade in Siberia, state television pictures showed.

The close encounter with the creature — one of the mascots for the 2014 Sochi Olympics championed by Putin — helped further burnish his tough-guy image ahead of 2012 presidential elections.

“What a beautiful little cat,” Putin, dressed in a Russian hat and a quilted jacket marked with the Russian eagle and the initials V.V. Putin, whispered as he stared at the snow leopard.

There had been controversy over the fate of the snow leopard, a 10-year-old named Mongol, which the Russian branch of the World Wildlife Fund said had been languishing in captivity since its capture on March 14 by scientists in a neighbouring area.

The animal was then taken by helicopter to Khakasia in southern Siberia and the WWF on Thursday issued a statement calling for the animal to be urgently returned to the wild.

Mongol was finally released at the weekend just after Putin’s visit but the WWF said it would not be giving further comment on the issue for the moment.

In an interview with Russian state television, Putin said that Russia’s protection of endangered species like the snow leopard was symbolic of how the country had changed over the last years.

“That one of the symbols of the Olympics is a beast that was wiped out by man in the 1950s shows that Russia is different. Russia cares about nature, about its riches and preserves them for future generations.”

Putin has now over the last years met the full range of Russia’s rarest big beasts, ranging from bears and tigers in the Far East and a polar bear in the Far North.

But in the interview, Putin said he had lived simply almost all his life “with the exception of the last 10 years”.

“I lived like a normal ordinary guy and I will keep this link all my life,” he added. “Whenever I take a decision, I think about how this will impact the ordinary citizen,” he added.

Copyright © 2011 AFP.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gKJNYQjHwYke8bq4HrdL5SmCpc_g?docId=CNG.ddbecc318a6830dc31e3387a5fe56b59.31

Army help sought for snow leopard conservation in India

2011-03-14 14:10:00

New Delhi, March 14 (IANS) The environment ministry has called upon the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to help in the conservation of the snow leopard, an endangered species whose population is rapidly dwindling.

‘There is need for more structured dialogue with the army and the ITBP to facilitate a deeper involvement of these bodies in conservation issues in the snow leopard landscapes,’ said a statement issued by the ministry Monday.

According to the ministry, it is important to have the defence forces on board as they have a large presence in all those areas where the snow leopards are found.

The ministry March 11 held the second meeting of the national steering committee for Project Snow Leopard (PSL), which was chaired by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

The project was launched in 2009 for strengthening wildlife conservation in the unique high altitudes of India with the support of local communities, civilian organisations and scientists.

India has nearly 750 snow leopards found in five states – Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

The committee reviewed the progress made by individual states in identifying snow leopard landscapes on a scientific basis and preparing appropriate management plans.

In addition to the senior officials from the five snow leopard states, the committee includes scientists and experts from the Nature Conservation Foundation, Wildlife Institute of India, World Wildlife Fund and Wildlife Trust of India.

The participants discussed critical issues regarding streamlining of mechanisms for state-wise disbursement of funds. All states suggested the need for greater capacity building, improvement of facilities, and providing ‘difficult-area’ incentives to field staff to improve on-ground monitoring and protection.

The minister underscored the importance of involving international expertise and exchanging know-how on snow leopard conservation, and proposed the idea of India hosting an international conference on conservation of snow leopards and mountain landscapes.

http://www.sify.com/news/army-help-sought-for-snow-leopard-conservation-news-national-ldookgaadec.html

Snow leopard population increasing in Bunji, Pakistan

Snow leopard population increasing in Bunji
Noor Aftab

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Initiatives taken some couple of years back in Bunji, a small town some 50km away from Gilgit, to help increase population of endangered snow leopard have started showing tremendous results as local people claim that population of this fascinating specie has almost doubled in this particular area.

Though no radio collar study has been carried out in this area due to lack of resources but eleven local persons have so far claimed that they have succeeded in looking snow leopards from a close distance in last two months.

The wildlife experts on the basis of statements given by the eyewitnesses were of the view that the population of snow leopards in the area has increased up 50 to 60 as compared to nearly 30 some years back.

In their initial evaluation the experts have said decline in the population of Markhor, national animal of Pakistan, led to decrease in the population of snow leopards that usually depend on hunting of this ‘King of Goat’ specie for their survival. When markhors started facing extinction the snow leopards, which sit at the top of food chain, found it hard to obtain food in snow clad mountains resulting in disappearance of this specie from many areas.

Interaction with some of the local people revealed that they started monitoring the mountainous areas to keep vigil over the illegal hunters who were involved in killing markhors and snow leopards.

“Our Zaitoo, village community watchman, caught two illegal hunters from another village and handed them over to police. This way we tried to minimise the chances of illegal hunting of markhors and snow leopards. If we want to increase population of snow leopard, we must focus on increasing the population of markhors that serve as source of food for these big cats,” said Ashfaqur Rehman, a banker in Bunji area.

He said they would increase the monitoring mechanism more vigorously in the coming months because snow leopards usually breed in winter — January to mid March — and have a gestation period of 90-100 days, so that the cubs are born between April and June.

Najeeb Ahmad Khan, an Islamabad-based tour operator, who used to take wildlife lovers from Islamabad to Gilgit to have a close look at snow leopards in snow-clad mountains, appeared quite optimistic and hoped he would be able again to start his safari journey of tourists that was shelved in the past due to decline in the population of markhors and snow leopards.

“The snow leopard only crosses snow line to hunt markhors and other prey animals and return back immediately to his home range as high as between 3,000 and 5,400 meters above sea level. But tourists were always willing to cover large distances only to have a look on these rare species,” he said.

Najeeb said he is planning to launch 4-day safari service that would start by jeeps to Ramghat via Partabpul and Bunji and the visitors would have bar-b-que dinner and joyous sun set on Nanga Parbat on day first. “Next day would start with hike to Neelidar, going as high as about 600 metres in five hours to discover the big cats, roaming freely in their habitats. Third day’s hiking would lead to Akalotamo and the visitors would be taken to another enchanting destination of Misikhandgah on last day of the journey,” he said.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=35919&Cat=6&dt=3/13/2011

Gilgit-Baltistan Wildlife department to probe leopard death, Pakistan

Snow Leopard dies in Wildlife Dept’s custody
DAWN.COM
February 26, 2011 (2 days ago)

The villagers claimed that they had caught the wild cat alive.—File photo
SKARDU: A Snow Leopard which had spread terror among villagers allegedly died in the custody of the Wildlife Department on Saturday.
The wild-cat had come out of a forest in search of food last month and had spread panic among the residents of Minthal by killing livestock.
On Saturday morning, the villagers followed and caught the cat and handed it over to the Wildlife Department but it died soon after.
The villagers claimed that they had caught the wild cat alive.
The Wildlife Department said that it will conduct a post-mortem of the cat after which the cause of its death can be determined.
Video link: http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/26/snow-leopard-dies-in-wildlife-dept%E2%80%99s-custody.html

http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/26/snow-leopard-dies-in-wildlife-dept%E2%80%99s-custody.html

Wildlife dept to probe leopard death
By Shabbir Mir
Published: February 28, 2011

GILGIT: The wildlife department of Gilgit-Baltistan has constituted a committee to probe the killing of a rare snow leopard beaten to death by residents in a remote village, officials told The Express Tribune on Sunday.

“We have constituted a committee to thoroughly investigate the matter,” said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ghulam Mohammad.

Earlier on Saturday, locals in Mathal, a village in Skardu, captured and tortured a snow leopard, which they claimed had killed dozens of their livestock previously. “This time too, the lethal predator had attacked our livestock and injured it,” said Wafa Khan, a resident of Skardu.

As a precautionary measure, locals said they had been prepared to counter the threat and when they learnt the leopard had ambushed the cattle, they reacted swiftly to save it. “This time around, people were alert so the leopard failed to inflict huge losses,” said a resident from Skardu, Raza Hussain.

Sources said people were waiting for the cat and when it arrived, they tried to capture it alive. Some threw a large blanket around it while others caught her tail. In the wrangling, the wild animal sustained injuries on her head and other parts of her body as it was hit to the wall repeatedly.

“After hectic efforts, the leopard was overpowered and handed over to forest officials,” said a villager, adding that the leopard died while she was in custody of officials from the forest department, who had a veterinary doctor to have the leopard inspected.

DFO Mohammad said that besides forest officials, a veterinary doctor and a snow leopard expert will also be part of the committee that will submit its findings to him. “There are various conflicting reports with respect to the killing of the precious wild animal,” he said, adding that severe legal action will be taken if anyone is found guilty of the killing.

According to wildlife laws, a perpetrator can face more than two years imprisonment for killing the rare cat.

The snow leopard is one of the most endangered wild animals found in the mountainous region.

Conservationists say that wild animals turn towards human settlements when they don’t find food in the mountains. “When illegal hunting of animals such as Markhor and Ibex will take place, these animals will naturally turn towards human settlements in search of food,” said an environmentalist in Gilgit. He added that the survival of this precious animal is under threat due to illegal hunting.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2011.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/124929/wildlife-dept-to-probe-leopard-death/

Snow leopard heads trio of Sochi 2014 mascots

Sat Feb 26, 2011 4:59pm EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin got his wish when a snow leopard, polar bear and hare were chosen as the official mascots of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics on Saturday.
Putin, who was largely responsible for Sochi’s successful bid to host the 2014 Games, said earlier in the day that a snow leopard would be his “symbolic choice.”

The snow leopard received 28 percent of the votes during a live broadcast on Russia’s main Channel One, followed by the polar bear in second place with 18 percent and the hare in third (16 percent).

“There are three mascots for the Olympic Winter Games, representing the three places on the Olympic podium,” Sochi 2014 chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said in a statement.

“All top-three characters will become the Olympic Winter Games mascots. The mascots are the choice of our whole country and will remain in the history of the Olympic movement.”

Television viewers voted for the mascots from a pool of 10 candidates including a Russian bear and Grandfather Frost (Russian Santa Claus) by sending text messages or by calling the studio.

The characters were shortlisted by the organizers from more than 24,000 ideas that were submitted during a nationwide contest.

Earlier on Saturday, Putin told students during his visit to Sochi: “(The snow) leopard is a strong, powerful, fast and beautiful animal.

“Leopard species had been destroyed around here but now they are being regenerated. If the Olympic project, at least in some way, should help the local environment, then it (picking a leopard) would be symbolic.”

(Reporting by Gennady Fyodorov; Editing by Stephen Wood)

http://ca.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idCATRE71P0P620110226

http://espn.go.com/espn/apphoto/photo?photoId=2835748&sportId=3000

Collaborative Snow Leopard Conservation Project finally taking off, India

Nod for snow leopard project
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 21
The Snow Leopard Conservation Project will finally take off in the cold desert of Spiti with the Centre releasing the first instalment of Rs 80 lakh for the implementation of Rs 5.5 crore project.

The most remarkable feature of the project is the Snow Leopard Research Centre to be set up at Kibber. It will be the only second such institution in the world to be set up on the pattern of the one existing in Mongolia.

The integrated project formulated by the Mysore-based Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) is being implemented in five trans-Himalayan states where the prized animal is found. The project was approved in principle in 2007 but for the implementation in the field, a comprehensive management plan was to be formulated after conducting a baseline survey.

The NCF which has been working on the endangered animal in Spiti for the past 20 years has already finalised the plan and now implementation would start.

Principal secretary, Forests, Sudipto Roy, who pursued the matter for release of funds, said it was designed on the pattern of the Project Tiger to be funded by the Centre.

With relatively less biotic interference, the Spiti valley was the stronghold of the endangered cat in India. An important feature was that the project would involve the local communities in monitoring and conservation to help reduce the snow leopard-migratory grazier conflict which had taken a heavy toll of the animal.

It is a unique collaborative project on which snow leopard experts are working closely with the senior wildlife officials to develop a good, participatory management plan for the unusual Spiti landscape on the basis of authentic scientific data.

The painstaking research conducted over 4000 sq km by wildlife experts in upper Spiti has revealed the presence of 4 or 5 snow leopards per 100 square km. The presence of other high altitude species like ibex, snow cock, blue sheep and grey wolf has also been noted during the research study to co-relate it with the snow leopard on through the prey-predator relationship and delineate its domain and movement. It is for the first time that so much research has been carried out in preparing a management plan before starting implementation of the project.

Besides Himachal, the project is being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttrakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh where the animal is found.

Snow leopard is a globally endangered species, restricted to the high mountains of Central Asia and rough estimates place its global population at around 7,500, which is believed to be fast depleting.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110222/himachal.htm#2