sln_g5rd8x – Page 23 – Snow Leopard Network

Illegal Wildlife Trade Flowing Through Porous China-Myanmar Border

World Sentinel: Newswire Services
March 21, 2010

Washington, DC — Porous borders are allowing vendors in Myanmar to offer a door-to-door delivery service for illegal wildlife products such as tiger bone wine to buyers in China, according to a new report from TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.

The State of Wildlife Trade in China 2008 is the third in an annual series on emerging trends in China´s wildlife trade.

The report found that over-exploitation of wildlife for trade has affected many species and is stimulating illegal trade across China´s borders.

“China´s remote border areas have long been considered a hotbed for illegal wildlife trafficking and surveillance is difficult in these sparsely populated areas,” said Professor Xu Hongfa, Director of TRAFFIC – China

The illegal trade in Asian big cat products is a key issue at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting.

The meeting is taking place in Doha, Qatar, where 175 countries will vote on measures that, if properly enforced, can end illegal tiger trade for good. Tigers are especially in the spotlight during this Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar.

“TRAFFIC and WWF are encouraging CITES Parties to enforce the law effectively in their own countries in order to end all illegal trade,” said Colman O´Criodain, Wildlife Trade Analyst at WWF International.

Tiger and leopard parts were also found openly for sale in western China, although market surveys in 18 cities found just two places where such items were encountered. One of them—Bei Da Jie Market in Linxia city—has a history of trading in tiger products. Five surveys between late 2007 and 2008 found one tiger, 15 leopard skins and seven snow leopard skins for sale in this market.

“There is clearly ongoing demand for leopard and tiger products, but the trade appears to be becoming less visible year-on-year,” said Professor Xu, adding that it is unclear if it is because there is less trade in such products or it has become more covert and organized.

The report also examines the trade of other wildlife species in China. In southern China, TRAFFIC identified 26 species of freshwater turtles for sale. The majority of animals were claimed by vendors to be supplied from freshwater turtle farms—many of which do not practice closed-cycle captive breeding and therefore rely on wild-sourced breeding stock.

“If no action is taken, sourcing from the wild coupled with increased captive production to meet an expanding market demand will pose a serious threat to wild species through unsustainable harvesting from wild populations in China and beyond,” said Professor Xu.

The report also highlights research into the legality of timber imported into China from source countries in Africa and South-East Asia, noting up to 30% discrepancies between reported import and export timber volumes.

Other topics covered include sustainable utilization of traditional medicinal plants, analysis of wildlife trade information, the Corallium trade in East Asia, tackling cross-border illegal wildlife trade on the China-Nepal border, and stopping illegal wildlife trade online.
The American Chronicle, California Chronicle, Los Angeles Chronicle, World Sentinel, and affiliates are online magazines for national, international, state, and local news. We also provide opinion and feature articles. We have over 5,000 contributors, over 100,000 articles, and over 11 million visitors annually.

China and India called on by scientists to collaborate on conservation

Biodiversity knows no ‘national boundaries’ and nations must protect species from rising consumption, dams and industry

Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/), Thursday 18 March 2010 18.00 GMT

Mount Kanchenjunga in the Darjeeling mountains in the Himalayas, a particularly environmentally sensitive area. Photograph: Frederic Soltan/© Frederic Soltan/Corbis

China and India could together decide the future of the global environment, a team of senior scientists warn today in a call for closer collaboration on conservation by the world’s two most populous nations.

Writing in the journal Science, the eight coauthors — including zoologists from both nations — warn of the security and biodiversity threat posed by rising consumption, dam construction and industrial emissions.

The ecological footprint of the two fast-emerging Asian economies has already spread beyond their borders and with future economic growth rates likely to continue at 8% for several years, the experts say the pressure on borders, resources and biodiversity could reach dangerous levels.

“The degree to which China and India consume natural resources within their boundaries and beyond will largely determine future environmental, social and economic outcomes,” say the co-authors headed by Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The report notes that the two countries import 9m of crude oil a year and 64% of all the roundwood pine produced in Asia, adding to the problems of global deforestation and warming.

The impacts are becoming more obvious in the strategically sensitive Himalayan border area, where the authors say large numbers of troops are damaging the environment. Resources in the mountain region are so scarce, they note, that soldiers sometimes eat rare plants.

Melting glaciers that supply meltwater for half the world’s population and the constriction of rivers by hundreds of dams are also major problems, they say.

With the demand for energy in both nations growing, they predict a further rise in construction of hydroelectric plants and exploitation of other Himalayan resources, with alarming implications for regional security.

“The synergistic effects of decreasing water resources, loss of biodiversity, increased pollution and climate change may have negative social and economic consequences and, even worse, escalate conflicts within and between the two countries,” they warn.

Despite their growing global importance, China and India have conducted little joint research and engaged in only modest collaboration to mitigate the impact of their rapid development. There have been small signs of progress in recent years, including agreements to jointly monitor glaciers and study the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean. But the authors say much more collaboration is necessary.

“More earnest cooperation between the world’s two most populous countries will be vital for mitigating biodiversity loss, global warming and deforestation,” the authors say.

They suggest turning disputed territory into trans-boundary protected areas, fostering scientific collaboration, working with the United Nations to manage natural resources and encouraging regional forums, such as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to focus more on the environment.

One of the authors — Zhang Yaping, the president of the Kunming Institute of Zoology — said it was rare for biodversity protection to span the two nations.

“We should certainly strengthen cooperation in this field,” he said. “China and India have done a lot of conservation work inside their own nations. What we need now is a joint effort. There should be no national boundaries in biodiversity protection.”

Myanmar a gateway for wildlife trade to China: report

(AFP) – 11 hours ago
15 March 2010

DOHA — Demand in China is stoking a black market in neighbouring Myanmar in tiger-bone wine, leopard skins, bear bile and other products made from endangered species, a report released on Tuesday said.

“China’s border areas have long been considered a hotbed for illegal trade, with remote locations often making surveillance difficult in sparsely populated areas,” Xu Hongfa, top China investigator for environmental group TRAFFIC, said in the report.

Enforcement efforts within China appear to have curtailed the open sale of many animal parts and products taken from species banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), he said.

Market surveys in 18 Western Chinese cities in 2008 found only two sites where tiger and snow leopard skins were on sale, far less than in previous years, said Xu.

But transactions may have simply moved underground and onto the Internet, and Myanmar has emerged as a fast-growing supply node.

“There is clearly ongoing demand for leopard and tiger products, but the trade appears to be becoming less visible year-on-year,” Xu said.

“The current trade is more covert, organised and insidious, making it harder to detect and crack down on.”

TRAFFIC said that in December 2008, its investigators checked three markets on the Chinese side of the border in Yunnan Province, and one in Mongla, a town in Special Region 4 of Myanmar’s Eastern Shan state.

Markets on the Chinese side were legal, but one and a half kilometres (a mile) across the border they found a grim range of wildlife products sold by Chinese merchants.

These included a clouded leopard skin, pieces of elephant skin, batches of bear bile extracted from live animals, a dead silver pheasant, a monitor lizard and a bear paw, which is considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.

Nearby, another shop specialised in “tiger-bone wine” costing 88 dollars (64 euros) for a small bottle.

The shop owner said buyers were mostly Chinese tourists, and customers could order the supposedly health-boosting tonic by phone for delivery to Daluo, a river-port town in China.

Like China, Myanmar also had national laws forbidding trade in endangered species.

“But enforcement is non-existent in Special Region 4 as it is an autonomous state… controlled by the National Democratic Alliance Army,” a rebel group, said Xu Ling, the China programme officer for TRAFFIC, who did the survey.

The 175-member CITES, meeting in Qatar’s capital Doha until March 25, will review measures to boost enforcement of wildlife bans already in place, as well as proposals to halt or limit commerce in species not yet covered by the Convention.

The first snow leopard was successfully photographed in Tuva, Russia

RIA Novosti, translated by Heda Jindrak
March 12, 2010

permanent link: http://en.tuvaonline.ru/2010/03/12/5400_snowleopard.html

The participants in the first Russian-Mongolian expedition for the study of groupings of irbis (snow leopard), which took place from February 20 to March 7 on the Tsagan-Shibetu ridge (western Tuva), made the first photos of this rare predator in the republic, as announced by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) of Russia.

During the field research the members of the expedition, which included specialists from the “Uvsu-Nur depression” nature reserve (Russia), from the administration of especially protected natural territories of the Ubsu-Nuur lake basin (Mongolia), and from the Institute of Biology of Mongolian Academy of Sciences, searched practically the entire Russian part of the Tsagan-Shibetu ridge, discovered 14 tracks of snow leopard and collected fecal specimens of irbis for clarification of their numbers by DNA analysis.

The scientists successfully tracked some irbises and discovered areas of active range of the predators. The members of the expedition also discovered a family group of three irbises, apparently a female with two older kittens; they also were successful in photographing the animals for the first time in Tuva.

“In the future, it is planned to set up photo-traps in these locations, to study the spatial structure of the groupings of this species on Tsagan-Shibetu,” the report notes. After preliminary evaluation of these new data, the population of snow leopard on the Russian part of the ridge is estimated at 8-9 individuals. The scientists hope to get a more accurate picture of the numbers of sex-age composition of the population after DNA analysis of the predators’ fecal samples at the IPEE RAN laboratory.

As a result of DNA analysis of biomaterials collected on the Mongolian part of the ridge Tsagan-Shibetu in 2009, the numbers of the population of this species on this territory is estimated at 9 individuals. In this way, the total numbers of the trans-border population in this center of distribution is no fewer than 17-20 individuals. In April 2010, the work on the study of trans-border groupings of irbis on Tsagan-Shibetu will be continued on Mongolian territory. The obtained data will allow not just to estimate the condition of this group, but also to offer soundly-based suggestions for its protection. The development of eco-tourism in the irbis ranges based on reports by local people in Western Tuva with support of WWF should have a positive impact on the protection and development of the population of this predator. The action is planned to start already in May of this year.

The snow leopard, or irbis, lives in the mountainous heights of the Himalayas, Hindukush, Pamir, Tian-Shan, Altai and Western Sayans, Greater Caucasus and adjacent mountains. In the summer the animals prefer not to descent below the border where trees begin to grow, and live in the high rocky regions and mountain meadows, ascending all the way to six thousand meters. In winter the snow leopard find shelter in the forests located at the elevation of two thousand meters above sea level.

Illegal but lucrative hunting for snow leopard furs has substantially reduced the population. A snow leopard skin can bring in about sixty thousand dollars on the black markets of Asia. Snow leopard is under government protection in all the countries of its range, but poaching threatens its numbers just like before. Lately the number of the snow leopard has increased somewhat, and currently there are about six thousand individuals in existence.

——————————————————————————–
© 2001-2010, “Tuva-Online” News & Information Agency (www.tuvaonline.ru).
Republishing, redistributing or syndicating without direct reference to Tuva-Online is prohibited.

Next round in New Delhi: Gross National Happiness Seminar

GNH (Gross National Happiness) Seminar 14 March, 2010 – The first ever
seminar between Bhutan and India on GNH concluded on March 12, with
participants from both sides acknowledging the need for more discussion
and study for the development philosophy to be successfully implemented.

Dasho Karma Ura, the president for the centre for Bhutan studies (CBS),
said that the “rich dialogue” had “enriched” the understanding of GNH
for both Bhutanese and Indian participants. The seminar saw, what a CBS
press release described as, “influential minds in India” talking to
Bhutanese counterparts on various topics related to GNH. The Indian
delegation included young politicians, sociologists, environmentalists,
conservationists, and health activists.

“GNH offers potential that needs to be unlocked,” said Peter DeSouza,
director for the institute of advanced studies in India. He added that
GNH is relevant today, as it offered a framework within which the ideas
contained offered a counter discourse to the western development model.
“GNH shows how Bhutan thinks ahead of time, it’s an evolved state of
thinking, a brilliant concept,” said Koustubh Sharma (PhD), a regional
field biologist with snow leopard trust, the largest organisation
concerned with the conservation of the endangered snow leopard. He said
that India is now suffering the consequences of a fast paced development
policy based on the western model.

Koustubh Sharma said the dialogue on GNH showed that it did not exist to
hide Bhutan’s underdevelopment as skeptics might observe. But he added
that some aspects have to be addressed, such as ensuring minor details,
such as the needs of specific groups of people are not undermined, when
using only one value to express the people’s happiness and development.
“A pivotal issue is whether GNH offers an alternative framework for
evaluation of policy or a state imposed prescription,” said Akhil Sibal,
a lawyer. “I’m definitely convinced that GNH is really a more of a
useful prism through which to look at policy rather than a dogma to be
imposed.” He added, “It’s an ideal worth working towards, to apply not
only within Bhutan but abroad.”

“Ideas and ideologies keep evolving so it’s never sufficient, but for
now, yes,” said Latika Dikshit, a social development consultant on
whether the seminar had provided a thorough understanding of GNH. On
whether GNH is too Utopian, she said, “All dreams start off Utopian,
it’s the path that leads to it that has to be realistic.” Latika Dikshit
said she hoped she would be invited again for another dialogue on GNH.
Comments were also made that perhaps GNH needed to be modernised to
include younger generations.

Dasho Karma Ura said Bhutan could certainly do with more discourses on
GNH and that the dialogue would be continued in India in August this
year. He also added that more discussion on GNH is needed among
Bhutanese, particularly one that includes all three branches of the
government and private sector.

The seminar was jointly organised by CBS and Malvika Singh, the owner
and publisher of Seminar magazine in India.

By Gyalsten K Dorji

http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1489
8

Lonely existence for Himachal snow leopard

2010-03-16 11:40:00

He is rugged, handsome and the undisputed monarch of his vast territory, but terribly lonely. Subhash, a nine-year-old snow leopard at a Himachal Pradesh nature park, is waiting for a suitable mate and authorities are worried the forced celibacy could adversely affect his behaviour.

Subhash has been living a life of loneliness at the Himalayan Nature Park in Kufri, 15 km from here, since his maturity. He was bred from a pair of snow leopards brought from Finland.

‘Efforts have been on to find a suitable partner for Subhash for quite some time. We are now pinning hopes on the Padmaja Naidu Zoological Zoo in Darjeeling to arrange a new bloodline female snow leopard for him,’ Chief Conservator (Faunal Diversity and Protected Areas) Sanjeeva Pandey told IANS.

‘Darjeeling is the only other zoo in the country besides Kufri which has a snow leopard. We have approached them and they assured us that they would soon be in a position to provide a female snow leopard,’ he said.

Subhash and his sibling Sapna were brought to Kufri from Darjeeling under an exchange programme in 2004. The breeding programme couldn’t be initiated as they belonged to the same bloodline. Sapna died due to disease in 2007.

This was the second mysterious death of a snow leopard in the nature park. Earlier, a female snow leopard had died. The female leopard had been discovered as a cub by the shepherds in the Spiti Valley in Lahaul and Spiti district and was reared in the park.

‘We are hoping that we might be lucky again to encounter an abandoned female cub or a wounded snow leopard from the higher reaches of Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur and Kullu districts, where there is a good population of snow leopards,’ Pandey said.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Vinay Tandon said: ‘We are scouting for a partner even from abroad. Subhash was bred from a pair brought from Finland. We are still trying to contact zoos in Finland, Holland and Bronx in the US to get a female snow leopard so that the breeding programme of the highly endangered species could be initiated.’

According to wildlife experts, the captive animals need to be kept in pairs; otherwise their natural behaviour could be affected.

‘Keeping animals in isolation for a longer duration often results in emotional stress and other behavioural problems,’ said Sandeep Rattan, a veterinary surgeon with the wildlife wing.

Even rule 37 of the Recognition of Zoo Rules, 1992, clearly mentions that no animal will be kept without a mate for a period exceeding one year unless there is a legitimate reason for doing so or if the animal has already passed its prime and is of no use for breeding purposes.

Photo Caption: A male snow leopard at the Himalayan Nature Park in Kufri, 15 km from Shimla. Photo: Kumar Lalit (Photo IANS)

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

http://sify.com/news/lonely-existence-for-himachal-snow-leopard-news-national-kdqlEcjabaf.html

China herdsmen jailed for killing snow leopard

China herdsmen jailed for killing snow leopard
Page last updated at 05:56 GMT, Monday, 8 March 2010
Two herdsmen have been sentenced to eight and 10 years in prison for killing a snow leopard in northwest China’s Xinjiang region. China‘s state news agency Xinhua quoted local authorities saying the men had set a trap after wild animals had been preying on their sheep. When a snow leopard was trapped, they stoned it to death and gave its fur, bones and internal organs to others. It is estimated that there are just 4,000 snow leopards left in the wild. The wildlife protection office of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture confirmed that the animal they killed was a snow leopard, said Yang Jianwei, a publicity official of Manas County Committee of the Communist Party of China, where the men were convicted. Xinhua reported that five suspects who had allegedly killed two snow leopards were arrested in January this year by the Public Security Bureau of Luntai County, Xinjiang. Four people were sentenced to 12 years in prison for killing and selling four snow leopards on 19 November 2008. Snow leopards live between 3,000 and 5,500 metres above sea level in the rocky mountains in central and south Asia
.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/8554879.stm
Herdsmen Get Imprisonment for Killing Snow Leopard

Two herdsmen were sentenced to eight and 10 years in prison respectively for killing a snow leopard in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said local authorities Sunday. The two men were convicted of illegally catching and killing rare and endangered wild animals and fined at Manas County People’s Court on Feb. 28, said Yang Jianwei, a publicity official of Manas County Committee of the Communist Party of China. The two men set an animal trap after their sheep had been preyed on by wild animals. When a snow leopard was caught by the trap, they stoned it to death and gave its fur, bones and internal organs to others. The wildlife protection office of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture confirmed that the animal they killed was a snow leopard, Yang said. In January 2010, five suspects allegedly killing two snow leopards were arrested by the Public Security Bureau of Luntai County, Xinjiang. Four people were sentenced to 12 years in prison for killing and selling four snow leopards on Nov. 19, 2008. Snow leopards live between 3,000 and 5,500 meters above sea level in the rocky mountains in central and south Asia. It is estimated that only four or five thousand exist in the wild. In China, they can be found in Xinjiang, Qinghai Province and Tibet Autonomous Region.
http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/03/07/1821s554798.htm

Indian Army rescued injured snow leopard in Ladakh

by Vijay Kumar <http://www.groundreport.com/vijaykumar> March 03, 2010 　

Udhampur-Jammu, March 3 (Scoop News/Ground Report) – Indian army rescued an injured snow leopard who was trapped by the villagers of LAGA village near Tangtse in Ladakh of J&K state.

According to reports reaching here the snow leopard was hiding behind a big stone. On getting information about the snow leopard, which is among endangered species, troops from nearby location rescued it with the help of a camouflage net and a blanket.

Meanwhile, the department of Wild Life was contacted at Leh and a team from the Wild Life department headed by Mr. Norbu, reached at LAGA village and shifted the injured snow leopard to the Animal Rescue Centre with the help of the Army troops, where it was treated, fed and kept overnight.Finally injured lepored was shifted by the Wild Life team to Leh for treatment & rehabilitation.

http://www.groundreport.com/Lifestyle/Indian-Army-rescued-an-injured-snow-leopard-in-Lad_2/2918950

Two leopards captured in J-K

STAFF WRITER 19:13 HRS IST

Jammu, Mar 3 (PTI – Press Trust of India) In separate incidents, people captured two leopards, including an endangered snow leopard, which had entered their villages, police officials said.A leopard barged into the house of Mohammad Younis and attacked herd of sheep in Ladote village of Rajouri district early today, they said.

The villagers assembled and captured the leopard, the officials said.

Later, they informed the matter to wildlife officials who had taken custody of the leopard, they said, adding the injured wildcat was being treated.

Another report said a snow leopard was trapped by the villagers when it entered village Laga near Tangtse mountain ridge in Leh district a few days back, army officials said.

Army troops and wildlife officials rescued the injured snow leopard and shifted it to animal rescue centre in Leh, where it was being treated, they said.

http://www.ptinews.com/news/545984_Two-leopards-captured-in-J-K <http://www.ptinews.com/news/545984_Two-leopards-captured-in-J-K>

Species Recovery Program for Snow Leopards etc. in Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu , Feb 28, 2010 Jammu and Kashmir government has launched Species Recovery Programme (SRP) for the endangered snow leopards, Markhor and Kashmiri stags to prevent their extinction.

“Jammu and Kashmir Government’s forest department has launched centre aided SRP for three species- snow leopard, Hangul (Kashmiri stags) and Markhor- for reversing the extinction process of such species in J-K,” Forest Minister Mian Altaf Said here.

“In year 2009, the estimated population of Hungul has been recorded at 175 only,” the Minister said.

He said that a breeding centre for Hangul is being established at Shikargah Tral in Kashmir.

“The project, being funded by Central Zoo Authority of India, Dehradun, has been approved by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India,” Altaf said.

It is being funded under the species recovery Programme of centrally sponsored scheme ‘Integrated Development of Wild life Habitats’, he said.

Five National Parks and 13 Wildlife sanctuaries are presently being controlled and looked after by the State Wildlife Protection Department, he said.

Three species Hangul, Markhor and snow Leopard are specifically covered under Species Recovery Programme (SRP), he said.

Filed At: Feb 28, 2010 17:24 IST , Edited At: Feb 28, 2010 17:24 IST

Villagers in Badakhshan, Afghanistan trapped snow leopard for sale but will be released once cat has recovered

Afghanistan protects newly rediscovered rare bird
By KAY JOHNSON (AP) – 1 day ago
KABUL — Afghanistan’s fledging conservation agency moved Sunday to protect one of the world’s rarest birds after the species was rediscovered in the war-ravaged country’s northeast.
The remote Pamir Mountains are the only known breeding area of the large-billed reed warbler, a species so elusive that it had been documented only twice before in more than a century.
A researcher with the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society stumbled upon the tiny, olive-brown bird during a wildlife survey in 2008 and taped its distinctive song. Later, a research team caught and released 20 of the birds — the largest number ever recorded.
On Sunday, Afghanistan‘s National Environment Protection Agency added the large-billed reed warbler to its list of protected species, which was established only last year.
Mustafa Zahir, the agency’s director-general, acknowledged the difficulties of trying to protect wildlife in a country preoccupied with the Taliban insurgency. On Friday, suicide attackers killed 16 people in Kabul, the capital, and thousands of Afghan and NATO forces are fighting to root out the hard-line Islamists from their southern stronghold.
But Zahir, who is the grandson of Afghanistan‘s former king, said the discovery of the large-billed reed warbler provided some welcome positive news.“It is not true that our country is full of only bad stories,” Zahir said. “This bird, after so many years, has been discovered here. Everyone thought it was extinct.”
The bird’s discovery in Afghanistan kicked off a small flurry in conservation circles.The large-billed reed warbler was first documented in India in 1867 but wasn’t found again until 2006 — with a single bird in Thailand. The Pamir Mountains, in the sparsely populated Badakhshan province near China, is now home to the world’s only known large population of the bird.The Afghan environmental agency also added 14 other species to the protected list on Sunday. It now includes 48 species including the rare snow leopard, the Asiatic cheetah and the markhor, a type of wild goat with large spiral horns.
While conservation efforts are in their infancy in Afghanistan, there have been some recent successes. Authorities in Badakhshan last week seized a snow leopard from villagers who had trapped it and planned to sell it. The snow leopard — one of an estimated 150 left in the wild — will be freed once its injuries from the trap are healed, Zahir said.Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jX2YfnI6k7kVgsWt1NsjBzQVtdOwD9E54HJ80