Srinagar, Jan 27: Following heavy snowfall in the upper reaches of Kashmir, the wild animals are moving to the plains, leading to incidents of man-animal conflict. In one recent instance, a leopard was killed by people after sighting it in a village in Kashmir.A police official said that a villager was injured when a wild leopard attacked him near his residence at Loridora, Chandoosa in North Kashmir. “As people came to know about the incident, they chased the animal and hurling stones and bricks at it. Later, they managed to catch the leopard and killed it,” the official said.
A few weeks back, another leopard was killed in the same manner by villagers in Kashmir.
The man-animal conflicts are increasing as the upper reaches and mountains across Kashmir have witnessed heavy snowfall, forcing the wild animals to move towards human habitations. “Leopards, bears and their cubs, foxes and jackals have been seen roaming near human habitations near the forest area in Kashmir and scores of people have been killed in the wild animal attacks. In retaliatory action, some animals have also been killed,” an official from the Wild Life Department said.
He said that the people living close to forest area have been advised to avoid coming out in the open after dark as the movement of wild animals in human habitations will not cease unless the snow melts in the upper reaches.
23 January 2009
By Anna Malpas / Staff Writer Moscow Times
When a helicopter carrying senior government officials crashed into a
remote Altai mountainside earlier this month, killing several
passengers, the accident appeared to be nothing more than a tragic
loss of life.
But photographs snapped at the crash site have thrown a spotlight on
what conservationists say is a disturbingly popular pastime among the
country’s political and business elite: the expensive sport of
poaching from helicopters.
One photograph published on an Altai region web site shows the
carcasses of endangered argali sheep among the wreckage of the Mi-171
helicopter that crashed Jan. 9. One of the sheep has a knife sticking
out of its haunches.
The wild sheep is one of Russia‘s rarest animals, and hunting it is
punishable by up to two years in prison. The photograph prompted
ecologists to press prosecutors to investigate whether the officials
were hunting illegally when their helicopter went down.
Among the seven federal, regional and local officials killed in the
crash was Viktor Kaimin, the Altai republic’s top official charged
with protecting the region’s wildlife and whose committee was
responsible for issuing hunting licenses.
Regional prosecutors say no formal investigation has been opened into
whether the officials were engaging in illegal hunting, though
regional environmental officials said they would push for a probe
into the circumstances of the incident, which some ecologists and
political commentators have dubbed “Altaigate.”
Conservationists say it is an open secret that officials come to
Altai for hunting trips in which they simply shoot at animals from
hovering helicopters, despite a ban on the practice.
With its remote mountains, the pristine Gorny Altai region is popular
with hunters, and hunting is legal in some areas for Siberian goat
and red deer.
“Over the last decade, Altai has become a place where helicopter
hunting has become rather common,” said Alexei Vaisman, head of WWF-
Russia’s anti-animal trafficking program.
The officials in the fatal expedition had hunting licences for
Siberian goats and red deer, Yelena Kobzeva, a spokeswoman for the
Altai government, told Interfax. The photographs published on the
AltaPress.ru web site, however, clearly show animals with round
curved horns, while Siberian goats have tall, slightly curved horns.
Vaisman, whose organization has been joined by Greenpeace and other
environmental groups in calling for an investigation, said WWF-Russia
does not “want anyone’s blood.”
“We don’t want anyone to be imprisoned,” Vaisman said. “The main aim
of our actions is to make a court give an official legal assessment
of what happened.”
Also killed in the crash were Alexander Kosopkin, the Kremlin’s envoy
to the State Duma, and Sergei Livishin, a senior member of the
presidential administration.
Survivors included Anatoly Bannykh, deputy head of the Altai Republic‘s administration, and Nikolai Kopranov, an adviser to the
Duma’s Economic Policy Committee.
Gorny Altai attracts “VIP hunters,” said Oleg Mitvol, the outspoken
deputy head of Federal Inspection Service for Natural Resources Use.
“There are special lodges that can only be reached by helicopter,”
Mitvol said. “They are luxurious. Just imagine how much it costs to
stay there.”
Environmentalists say helicopter hunting trips cannot be organized
without the knowledge and support of local officials.
It’s “rather common” for regional officials to treat federal
officials to free hunting trips, Vaisman said. “It’s not a bribe,
it’s to make good relations, to get additional money to the region
from the federal center,” he said.
Low-level officials are often involved in organizing the trips too.
State game wardens receive “almost negligible” salaries of around
1,000 rubles ($32) per month, Vaisman said.
Such helicopter hunting trips are organized in Kamchatka, Magadan, Sakhalin and Primorye regions, Vaisman said. “It’s popular among high-
level officials and so-called New Russians, who think they are above
the law,” he said.
The targets can be mountain sheep, snow sheep, mountain goats, bears
or moose, Vaisman said. “They shoot directly from the helicopter and
then land to pick up any trophies,” he said.
Kobzeva, the AltaiRepublic administration spokeswoman, told The
Moscow Times by telephone that the officials who crashed earlier this
month were on a private trip and that no funds from the regional
budget were used to finance it. The administration has no information
on who ordered and paid for the trip, Kobzeva said.
Helicopter hunting trips even take place in nature reserves, said
Mikhail Paltsyn, a scientist with a UN-sponsored environmental
program called Biodiversity Conservation in the Russian Portion of
the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion.
“Helicopter hunts take place regularly for Siberian goats and red
deer in the ArgutRiver valley, in Shavlinsky nature reserve, where
hunting is completely banned,” Paltsyn said in e-mailed comments. “On
practically all our expeditions to the ArgutRiver valley, we see
hunting helicopters and find traces of such hunting. Local residents
say that helicopters with hunters come to these places every month.”
Last February, conservationists spotted a helicopter on two
consecutive days circling and apparently firing at Siberian goats and red deer. They wrote down the number and contacted game wardens and
police. “The people responsible were never found,” Paltsyn said. “It
looks like the servants of the people were hunting again.”
Hiring a helicopter costs tens of thousands of rubles per hour, said
Anatoly Mozharov, the editor of Safari magazine for hunters. Mozharov
stressed, however, that legitimate hunters use helicopters to fly to
far-flung areas and then hunt from the ground.
Killing a protected animal is a crime in Russia punishable by up to
two years. Relatively few poachers are ever convicted, however,
officials and environmentalists said.
“Very few investigations are ever opened regarding ecological
crimes,” Mitvol said. “Last year, practically none were opened.
Unfortunately, many VIP hunters take into account that no criminal
investigation will ever be opened against them.”
A spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General’s Office said the office had
no available data on the number of illegal hunting cases investigated
last year or the number of people convicted of poaching.
Convictions are rare in such cases because illegal hunting is “very,
very difficult to prove,” said Alexander Bondarev, head of the
Biodiversity Conservation in the Russian Portion of the Altai-Sayan
Ecoregion.
“Some people see a helicopter in the mountains, but it’s not possible
to determine which animal was shot,” he said.
In Gorny Altai, hunters often receive permission to shoot Siberian
goats — whose territory is close to that of the endangered argali
sheep, Bondarev said. The hunters can therefore claim that they are
shooting at the goats, not the wild sheep.
“The only possibility is to find the hunter near the animal,”
Bondarev said. “But it’s very difficult to prove that he killed this
animal.”
Bondarev’s organization was one of the first to issue a statement
identifying the animals in the photograph as argali sheep. The
organization focuses on the conservation of argali and the snow
leopard, both of which are listed as endangered in Russia.
The argali sheep is one of the region’s rarest species, and its
population in Russia numbers only a few hundred.
The argali are the largest wild sheep in the world. Their large,
curly horns, weighing around 50 kilograms, are prized as trophies.
The area where the helicopter crashed is home to the largest group of
argali sheep in Russia. Since they migrate between Mongolia and Russia, it is difficult to say how many sheep remain. In winter it
could be 100-150, while in summer they number up to 400, Paltsyn said.
“The greatest threat for argali is poaching, including hunting by
some local residents and hunting for pleasure and trophies by
visiting hunters,” Paltsyn said.
It is unclear how many argali are killed illegally each year in Russia, Bondarev said. He estimated that around six of the animals
are poached annually.
Kaimin, the environmental official killed in the crash, was embroiled
in a scandal in 2003 after he was purportedly seen hunting argali
sheep. AltaiRepublic lawmakers appealed to prosecutors to
investigate the incident, though the case was later dropped.
A spokesman for the Altai newspaper that reported on the story,
Postskriptum, said in a telephone interview that the case was dropped
because it rested exclusively on statements from witnesses.
Attempts to reach the AltaiRepublic‘s committee for the protection,
use and reproduction of the animal world — which Kaimin headed up
before his death — were unsuccessful. The committee had only five
members, of whom only one was an inspector, Paltsyn said. Until
recently, it had no transport, funds for raids or inspector team, he
said.
“If the fact of poaching is confirmed, then of course this
organization is just ineffective,” said Svetlana Shchegrina, head of
environmental education at the Altai regional nature reserve, which
also has a population of argali sheep. “It’s a terrible case.”
Innovative Conservation Project for Indian High Altitudes
Project Operational in Five Himalayan States viz. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh
Thiru S. Regupathy said that Project Snow Leopard is a manifestation of the Government of India’s resolve to conserve biodiversity with community participation. To give it the same status of importance in the high altitude as that of Tiger in the terrestrial landscape, the ministry is launching the Project Snow Leopard in the country from today. Releasing a document on Project Snow Leopard here today, Mr Regupathy said that Snow Leopard is globally endangered species as well as the most important flagship species of the mountain region. They are at the apex of ecological pyramid suffer the most on account of relatively smaller population size and also because of man-animal conflict. This situation further gets aggravated by the hostile landscape forming its habitat. Referring to its globally endangered species status as well as the most important flagship species of the mountain region, the Minister informed that Snow Leopard has been included in the list of species under Recovery Programme to be funded through the umbrella scheme of integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats. Giving details of there habitat, Sh S Regupathy said there are more than 26 protected areas in the Himalayan landscape where snow leopard is reported. However, areas outside protected areas are equally important for a long range species like Snow Leopard.
Considering these facts, Sh Regupathy added that India is endowed with the unique wildlife assemblage of global importance in Himalayan and Trans Himalayan zones. Thus, implementation of Project Snow Leopard will give an opportunity for the conservation of this unique biodiversity. Stressing on active involvement of local communities, the Minister said application of landscape for conservation, capacity building of staff research on wildlife and human dimension in Snow Leopard habitat, adoptive management of project developing, grazing and management policies along with promotion of conservation and education awareness initiatives etc would require for conservation in these areas.
The biodiversity of the Himalayans includes at least 350 species of mammals, 1200 species of birds, species of amphibians and reptiles, and numerous plants including many with medicinal properties. Over 335 species of wild relatives of cultivated crops are also found in the region. There are numerous biologically important wetlands that form breeding grounds for waterfowl. These areas also provide vital ecosystem services that are important for the dense human populations downstream and in the Indo-Gengetic plans.
The project will be operational in five Himalayan States viz. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh with active support from wildlife institute of India and the Mysore based Nature Conservation Foundation.
The project stresses on a landscape approach to conservation wherein smaller core zones with relatively conservation values will be identified and conserved with support and the larger landscape will be managed in such a way that it allows necessary development benefits to the local communities. The project thus places greater importance to careful and knowledge-based management planning of the landscapes. The adaptive management planning will involve participation of all key stakeholders so that action is taken by incorporating local wisdom and support. For facilitating effective planning and action, the project will set up enabling administrative mechanisms from the village duster level to the Central Government. At the Central level, a Steering Committee chaired by Director General of Forests & Special Secretary to the Government of India will help guide the project. Each State will have a State Snow Leopard Conservation Society that will coordinate work by the Landscape-level Implementation Committees, which in turn will coordinate work by the village Wildlife Conservation Committees.
The Project Snow Leopard is an Innovative project that would help to arrest species declines in the Indian high altitudes and would lead to conservation based on sound scientific plans and local support. Species such as Snow Leopard, Asiatic Ibex, Tibetan Argali, Ladakh Urial, Chiru, Takin, Serow and Musk Deer will particularly benefit from this project.
In partnership with the GTZ (German Technical Cooperation), the European Union, ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) and Fondation Ensemble, GERES (Group Renewable Energy, Environment and
Solidarity), an international French NGO specialised in energy and climate change issues, is organising a regional seminar on ‘The Challenge of Development in Energy-related Projects and Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in the Cold Regions of Asia’, to be held from April 21 to 24 2009 in Leh, Ladakh, Jammu&Kashmir, India. Should you wish to contribute(abstracts will be received until 2 February 2009) or participate, kindly visit our website on http://india.geres.eu/seminar.php for more details and registration.
If you need any financial support, you may request it and your demand will be reviewed by the organizing committee during the month of February.
16.12.2008 Satellite Anti-Poaching System Tested in the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion
UNDP/GEF Project “Biodiversity Conservation in the Russian Portion ofthe Altai-Sayan Ecoregion” has successfully tested a unique satellite anti-poaching system in Altaiskiy nature reserve. It has never been applied in the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion before. The system was developed by Wild Land Security NGO, USA. It is intended for poacher detection in protected areas (PAs). Mr. Stephen Gulick, an electronic engineer and designer of the system, has tested it for the first time in national parks of Africa to protect endangered species. It consists of various detectors (a geophone, a metal detector, a PIR (passive infrared) detector, a photo-detector, etc.), a portable transmitter, and a satellite modem to transmit an alarm to a phone or an e-mail account of a PA ranger station. The satellite anti-poaching system enables rangers to quickly spot and intercept poachers coming to a protected area by providing real-time information about their location.
Altaiskiy nature reserve received 4 sets of “TrailGuard” satellite anti-poaching system, which were installed in areas known for frequent musk-deer poaching. Ultra-compact anti-poaching detectors were hidden along trails, in log cabins, and in other locations visited by poachers to transmit an alarm on an unauthorized entry. Reserve’s ranger station has a “Thuraya” satellite phone now to receive an alarm from the anti-poaching detectors. While in the mountains, ranger patrol groups would also use “Thuraya” satellite phones to keep in constant touch with the reserve’s duty station, police, and emergency service.
Satellite high-tech would allow Altaiskiy nature reserve to protect the area much more efficiently by early poacher spotting and safer patrol group operation. Moreover, this technology could save considerable part of the reserve’s budget due to effective raids to specified locations. If the satellite anti-poaching system proves successful, Altaiskiy nature reserve will locate anti-poaching detectors in all the sites infamous for poaching.
American Biologist Honored With China Environment Prize
NEW YORK, New York, December 19, 2008 (ENS) – Dr. George Schaller, a world reknowned field biologist and conservationist, has been awarded the China Environment Prize for his efforts to study and protect China’s giant pandas, Tibetan antelope, and China’s wild places.
Schaller is a senior conservationist with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Asia Programs and has worked with the Bronx Zoo-based organization for more than 50 years. He has worked in China for much of the last 28 years.
The $70,000 prize was established in 2000 by the China Environmental Protection Foundation to honor and encourage individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the cause of environmental protection in China. The foundation was the first nonprofit organization in China dedicated to environmental protection.
“George Schaller has been and continues to be a role model and driving force for conservation,” said Dr. Steven Sanderson, president and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society. “After more than 50 years of groundbreaking field research on some of the world’s best-known wildlife, George continues to define the field of conservation biology and works tirelessly to preserve our natural heritage.”
One of the first foreign experts to work with the Chinese on conservation issues, Schaller’s conservation work within China began in the 1980s with his seminal research on giant pandas in the bamboo forests of China‘s WolongMountains.
Schaller helped the Chinese government establish the massive Chang Tang Wildlife Preserve in Tibet – one of the world’s largest protected areas – in order to protect the plateau’s unique assemblage of wildlife, including wild yak, Tibetan argali sheep, and Tibetan brown bear.
Schaller’s research on Tibetan antelope helped reveal that the rare animal is in fact the source of “shahtoosh,” the world’s finest wool, which is smuggled by poachers into Kashmir, India. He has lobbied to shut down the trade and protect critical habitat in China for this antelope species.
His recent work includes efforts to establish a trans-boundary protected area along the mountainous borders of China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan that is inhabited by Marco Polo sheep, ibex, and snow leopard.
Schaller’s reputation in the conservation field was established long before his work in China.
His field work as a graduate student in northern Alaska in the 1950s led to the creation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Schaller remains an advocate for permanent protection of the refuge. He has expressed the hope that the incoming administration will safeguard this pristine and ecologically rich part of America‘s landscape.
Schaller initiated the first scientific study of mountain gorillas in Africa‘s Virunga Volcanoes in 1959. Since 2001, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Agency for International Development have invested over $15 million towards conservation of great apes in Africa and Asia, with an additional $14 million coming from private donors and conservation organizations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Schaller also pioneered behavioral examinations of big cats, with the first ever ecological studies of tigers in India and lions in East Africa. His work resulted in a successful popular work, “The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator-Prey Relations,” which won the National Book Award in 1973. He has also studied jaguars and other cat species.
Schaller’s work over the years on several species listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species has helped raise awareness on the growing rates of global illegal wildlife trade.
His studies have been the basis for his numerous scientific and popular writings, including several books such as The Stones of Silence, The Year of the Gorilla, and The Last Panda. In addition to the China Environment Prize, Schaller has received numerous national and international awards for conservation, including the International Cosmos Prize from Japan and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in the United States.
Dr. Schaller is now working primarily in Iran and Tajikistan, but he will be in New York on February 26, 2009 to keynote a daylong conference devoted to his work.
He will be the featured speaker at the Fairfield Osborn Memorial Conference and Lecture at RockefellerUniversity. The conference, titled George Schaller: Practicing the Art of Conservation, will celebrate his conservation work over the past 50 years.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.
On December 13, 2008, WCS International organized a present reward ceremony of “the Chinese Frontier Wildlife Bodyguard Award” take place Beijing, the big hall of literature information center of ChineseAcademy of Science. Ablimit Abdukadir，IUCN/CSG and SLN member, Professor of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography，Chinese Academy of Science honored to obtained “the Chinese Frontier Wildlife Bodyguard Award” and prize. Chinese major wildlife conservation cabinets and leaders came from to attend the award ceremony such the State Forestry Bureau, the State Environmental Protection Department, the State Natural Ecology Protection Department, the Chinese Environment Culture Promotion Agency, the Forest Police Staff at State Forestry Bureau, the CITES Office at Beijing, People’s Republic of China. And to Dong Hongyu (Heilongjiang, Harbin), Ablimit Abdukadir (Xinjiang CAS, Urumqi),Liu Jinxu (Yunnan, Xishuangbanna), Qiangba Ceren (Tibet, Ali district),Wang Lifan (Guangxi, Guilin) so on 12 winners and comes from Bureau and Sub-bureau of the Anti-smuggle Inner Mongolian Customhouse, the Bureau Second Customs of Anti-smuggle ant-poaching Tibet, Administrative Bureau of the Xishuangbanna Dai Nationality Autonomous Region’ State-level Nature Protected Area, the CITES Office at Kunming and Jilin province and the People’s Liberation Army 65811 and so on are honored to obtained the collective represents award.
This award “the Chinese Frontier Wildlife Bodyguard” item, has been through repeatedly the application, the network public shows with the voting, the expert appraisal and so on a series of links, is domestic first in view of the Chinese frontier area wild biological shield and the law enforcement award item. This award item is for the purpose of driving positively participates in the personnel in the Chinese frontier area who and supports the wild biological law enforcement work, conservation any wildlife, the commendation attacks the robber to hunt for, the control wild biology transnational illegal trade, makes the important contribution for the China wild biological shield the collective and individual, promotes the frontier area correlation personnel in the wild biological shield and the law enforcement work exchange, enhances the wild biological shield and law enforcement ability. On December 13, altogether have 12 prizes to represent the frontier area which works from them to come to Beijing, the attendance award ceremony. At the award ceremony, the scene audience and the honored guest understands the bodyguards in the remote frontier area protection wild animal’s touching fact, also deeply their this kind of selfless offer mental move. At the award ceremony, Mr. Dong Zhiyong, former vice-minister of Ministry of Forestry, the People’s Republic of China; Mr. Dong Zhi, office Director of the endangered species import and export; Mr.Chen Ze, Deputy Secretary-General Assistant of the Chinese Environment Culture Promotion agency; Mrs. Zhang Ping, Forest Police staff Assistant at State Forestry Bureau Commissioner and all other department heads with countryside Chinese representative as the promulgation honored guest to promulgate and to make the speech. In addition, the WCS International chief – scientist Dr. George B. Schaller also attended this award ceremony, has carried on the introduction to the current international on frontier area protection of wild animals and the law enforcement situation.
Xinjiang is an typical area biggest provincial in China, also is a country boundary line longest provincial area, it with Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India is neighboring, the boundary line long amounts to 5600 kilometers, the wild animal resources are rich, approximately 700 species of wild vertebrate and 3000 species of vascular plants, in which very multiple wants the species to include especially “National Key Protection Wild animal Name list” and the listed into CITES appendix as endangered wild fauna and flora. Xinjiang has 27 passes which opens with the neighboring country with two kind of ports continental and air, including the Alataw port, the Kashigar aviation port, Kashigar Khonjirab pass, the Urumqi international and domestic port, the Chuguchak international border trade city port and so on many differences channel-like traffic pass and ports. Because with peripheral aspects and so on country and area in language and writing, religious belief, life custom is extremely close, Xinjiang has the advantageous superiority in the frontier trade development, and also be same advantageous space in the frontier animal smuggling, poaching and transiting illegal. As a result of is unceasing with the Xinjiang neighboring many country chaos caused by war, the country and the international laws and regulations are quite imperfect, these national biological shield is at the anarchy, many unlawful element uses “the green channel” carries on is endangered species smuggling and the poaching for. In Xinjiang, some unlawful elements and overseas trade the smuggling wild animal and the product criminal offender collude with, use each kind of channel, the tool and the method capture and kill the wild animal, the purchase, the sale, the transportation, the smuggling wild animal and the product, non-card import and export wild animals and plants for example a live animal or body, horns, skin, bone, skeletons of saiga Antelope, saker Falcon, Gazelle, Tiger, Snow Leopard, Bear, Deer, Argali Sheep, Ibex, Turtles, Wolf, Fox, Marmot etc. These behaviors have become the most main threatened which the Xinjiang frontier area wild animal, causes the wild biological shield work to be more complex and to be difficult. Under this situation and the background, Professor Ablimit Abdukadir be invite a special expert for to determine, identify and sorting of different species which smuggled, poached and threatened illegal in countryside and frontier area of western China by CITES of Beijing and Urumqi, China, Chinese Endangered Species Conservation Scientific Committee, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region forest public security and China is close to managed in surveillance, the law enforcement and department responsible for the work’s and so on Urumqi office association examines expert and the biological species appraisal expert, participates in the attack smuggling illegal act with his unique way. For many years, Ablimit Abdukadir has assisted Xinjiang all levels of wildlife conservation departments and so on control section, forest public security as well as customs industry and commerce develops coordinated in every way works, to investigates the wild animal and the wild animal product which as well as treats requests authorization carries on the appraisal. From 2001 to 2008, the protection of wild animals law enforcement association which he participation examines the involved criminal case to have 50, in which involved the living specimen animal, the animal organ, the fur, the angle, even was the small pill and so on.
As short content of in Chinese, the news just reported the web: http://www.egi.ac.cn
Wildlife researchers are concerned a rare sub-species of Central Asian sheep known as Marco Polo sheep (Ovis ammon polii) is under threat of extinction because of widespread commercial hunting in Central Asian states such as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Found in the PamirMountains, on the border region of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan, and named after the famed traveler Marco Polo who encountered them on his journeys in the region, experts estimate that only a fraction of the original number of the species remain. The species’ decline can be linked to regional political and economic factors and the activities of several commercial hunting businesses, they say.
The hunting operators have used the Marco Polo sheep as a lucrative commercial opportunity and have in the process, driven the sheep to the edge of extinction. According to George Schaller, vice president of the Science and Exploration Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the species can now be numbered to little more than 10,000.
The population of Marco Polo sheep has declined rapidly in Central Asia since 1980 due to political disturbances and economical factors in the region. This includes a long, unresolved war in Afghanistan which acts as an important habitat for these species.
However trophy hunters originating mostly from western Europe and North America, have shown great interest in signing up for Marco Polo sheep hunting adventures, ignoring the species’ endangered status.
Rick Herscher, owner and operator of Alaska Hunting Safaris in Anchorage, AK, describes hunting for the Marco Polo sheep as an adventure and joyful experience. The company runs hunts in the KyrgyzRepublic and Tajikistan for a fee of US$35,000 and Herscher said in a telephone conversation that authorities in Central Asian states can be notoriously corrupt where the issuing of a license for hunting can be a gold mine.
It is alleged that the corruption of officials in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, along with the increasing demand of trophy hunters around the world, is the main factor in the rapid development of the commercial hunting of the iconic sheep. Despite the fact that Marco Polo sheep have been officially recognized by the Agency of the Environment Protection of Kyrgyzstan as an endangered species, the hunting of the sheep continues to be legal in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Herscher said that with limited hunting permits available, planning on the safaris begins one year prior to the actual hunt. The official permit fee for hunting on Marco Polo sheep in Kyrgyzstan‘s Environment Government Agency is $6.80 per sheep and hunters take the opportunity to acquire them in the time available.
Unfortunately the plight of the Marco Polo sheep serves only to remind how we as a human society need to understand better how important the issue of conserving and protecting endangered species such as the Marco Polo sheep is for the future of our planet. Even in the 21st century it appears we are still unable to protect our endangered fauna for the benefit of future generations. History teaches us that what we lose will not return and that acting now is our only chance for preservation.
The example of the Marco Polo sheep is salient as we know that the world will lose this unique species if nothing is done to prevent irresponsible hunting in the abovementioned Central Asian states. Wealthy trophy hunters from around the globe, who apparently know that this species is under threat of extinction, appear to suffer no remorse.
From Kuensel, Buhutan’s National Newspaper – Bhutan
15 December, 2008 – It was a tribute to the Wangchuck dynasty for a century of visionary leadership in conservation of Bhutan’s rich natural heritage. And for once, it was the only protected area comprising of all four national symbols-flower, animal, tree and bird.
Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley inaugurated the second largest protected area in the country, Wangchuck Centenary Park (WCP) in Nasiphel village of Choekhar gewog, Bumthang on December 12.
Covering about 3,736 km sq of north-central region of the country, WCP connected JigmeDorjiWangchuckNational Park in the west and Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary in the east.
Adding to its special features was also the park area being a source of Punatsangchu, Mangdechu, Kurichu, and Chamkharchu, the rivers, which would power hydropower projects.
Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said that the declaration of WCP for the conservation of species and unique ecosystems in the country was a humble tribute to the Monarchs, who placed environmental conservation at the heart of development.
“Today we are adding another jewel to our existing network of protected areas,” he said.
The park was also expected to uplift local communities through community tourism and home-stays.
“The park has a huge potential to promote ecotourism in water related recreational sports such as boating, skiing, fishing and canoeing,” said an official from nature conservation division, adding that the famous Dhur tsachu (hot spring) located in the park would attract tourists.
Locals agree. Kuenga, 28, from Nasiphel village, the farthest village in the gewog, said the park had given them road. “Eco-tourism would benefit us even more,” she said.
Meanwhile the park is not short of challenges.
Chief forest officer, Sonam Wangyel Wang, said that with the institution of the new park management, they also had to look at the livelihood of about 10,000 people who are directly depended on park resources.
“The Park will not restrict people from using forest resources but ensure them to use it in a sustainable manner,” he said.
The zone was a host to about 242 species of plants belonging to 51 families, 23 species of mammals and 135 species of birds. Endangered mammals such as tigers, snow leopard, Himalayan black bear, Takin and Tibetan Wolf also inhabit the park.
SLN Member and Snow Leopard Trust Science and Conservation Director Dr. Charudutt Mishra was recently recognized for his excellence in conservation work by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) in India. He was awarded the 2009 Khoshoo Memorial Award in Conservation, peer-level recognition of his achievements named after Dr. Triloki Nath Khoshoo, the first Secretary for the Department of Environment in the government of India.
