A seminar was held last month by the Mongolian Ministry for Nature, Environment and Green Development. If any SLN member who attended would like to give a report in the next News Update, that would be very informative. Full text of news story follows:
The Mongolian Ministry for Nature, Environment and Green Development held a seminar Thursday to discuss ways to further strengthen snow leopard conservation.
More than 30 experts, scholars and officials from Mongolia’s environmental protection departments, the World Environment Foundation, the Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation and other institutes discussed conservation measures and shared experience from other countries.
Experts said that, due to habitat loss, poaching, conflicts with humans and other reasons in recent years, the snow leopard had been listed as endangered species.
Snow leopards are targeted by hunters for its beautiful fur. Mongolia’s southern Gobi region is implementing a project to protect the species. Snow Leopard is mainly distributed in China’s Xinjiang region, Mongolia and other countries in the Central Asia plateau.
Snow leopards become video stars in student’s plan to save them
Humans are the biggest threat to the endangered snow leopard but a former park ranger from Bhutan hopes to mitigate that threat, thanks to Australian help.
The soft-furred, snowy cats do not live in Australia, except in places like the National Zoo in Canberra, which is home to two of them, named Bhutan and Shiva.
They are found in the wild in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Researchers and conservationists believe there are between 3000 and 6000 left in the wild.
But former park ranger Tenzin Phuntsho, who volunteers at the zoo while studying filmmaking in Canberra on an Australian government scholarship, said he is working on a plan to help conserve the small cats, who have big feet for walking on snow.
”It is so beautiful,” Mr Phuntsho said of the animal.
He hopes to use his training to educate people in Bhutan about the need to preserve the elusive cat.
There is a 95 per cent illiteracy rate among the nomadic population so he believes video will get the message across.
Until recently the cats had been thriving in Bhutan, where the cultural philosophy is that all life forms are connected.
Leopards eating domestic stock had been considered a part of life, and even if one killed a yak, there would be no retaliation, Mr Phuntsho said.
But more people are moving into the alpine areas of the Himalayas and since yaks are a trapping of wealth there are a lot more about for leopards to eat.
Yaks are less agile than other local wildlife and easier prey for the leopard.
”I am a bit afraid now because … people are changing and snow leopards are becoming more of a threat,” Mr Phuntsho said.
People are becoming more aggressive: ”I fear they might retaliate one day.”
The National Zoo also has a volunteer team that helps wildlife charities around the world, including the global Snow Leopard Trust.
The trust’s website says that over the past 16 years snow leopard numbers have declined by about 20 per cent due to habitat and prey base loss, as well as poaching and persecution. Losses to poaching were most severe in the former Russian republics during the 1990s and have declined.
But an illegal trade continues as demand for body parts from China is growing.
Thanks to SLN member Jaffar Ud Din for alerting us to the attached article, a heartwarming account of a snow leopard cub being saved by Pakistan’s Snow Leopard Foundation, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
A study titled “Conservation and Climate Change: Assessing the Vulnerability of Snow Leopard Habitat to Tree Line Shift in the Himalaya” has indicated that of the estimated 270,000 km2 of Snow Leopard habitat in the Himalayan region, about 30% may be lost due to tree line shrinking and shifting of the alpine zone. The study highlights that in the case of IPCC greenhouse gas high emissions scenario, Bhutan and Nepal may lose snow leopard habitat by about 55% and 40% respectively whereas the loss has been estimated to be 25% in India and China.
June 2012
Biological Conservation, Volume 150, Issue 1, Pages 129-135
CHITRAL, Jan 26: Snow leopard was spotted in the forests near Bakamak and Shali villages in Chitral district on Wednesday and Thursday after long disappearance.
An official of the local wildlife department told Dawn on Thursday that the big cat appeared near Bakamak and Shali areas but heavy snowfall forced it into moving to Toshi game reserve at lower altitude.
He said snow leopard hadn’t been seen in the area over the last two years amidst fears about its extinction.
People thronged the Garam Chashma Road to catch a glimpse of the leopard.
The wildlife department official said the big cat descended to the areas of low altitudes in search of food after heavy snow in forests and high mountains and that small animals, including markhor and ibex, were its cherished food.
People fear attacks on them and their livestock by the big cat, especially at nighttime.
Ejaz Ahmad, a biodiversity specialist, said snow leopard lived in areas alongside Hindu Kush range of mountains.
He said leopard was declared an endangered specie in the recent past but its population density later surged satisfactorily.
Mr Ejaz said massive grazing in alpine rangeland, human conflicts, climatic change and decline in snowfall had led to reduction in the number of leopards. He said WWF had launched a snow leopard welfare project in some Chitral villages.
Meanwhile, Dinar Shah, in his eighties and from Seen village, said previously, people used to guard their families and livestock at nighttime but installation of bulbs around the village had curtailed leopard attacks.
He said leopard’s attacks on people were very rare as it targeted livestock, especially goats, only. He said the former Chitral rulers banned leopard killing but lifted the ban in view of growing cases of its attacks on livestock.
Some regretted that leopard was poached in the area for skin, which had a great demand in national and international market, without let or hindrance. They demanded registration of cases against leopards.
Thanks to SLN member Jennifer Castner for providing the English translation to the Russian language article below. To read the article in its original Russian, see this link:
http://sayanzapoved.ru/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=165%3A2013-03-26-06-46-30&catid=35%3Anews&Itemid=68
Translation is as follows:
In Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve (Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia), Mongol the snow leopard has a new satellite collar. He was caught by the Reserve’s science staff and zoologists from Severtsov Institute for Ecology as part of the South Siberia Snow Leopard Study and Monitoring Program.
Two years ago, Mongol underwent a similar procedure thanks to which all aspects of this species of wild cat became accessible. Since then, he has also posed repeatedly in front of camera traps in Sayano-Shushensky Reserve, which has permitted tracking his behavior and physical condition in his natural environment.
This time, biological samples were taken and a zoological-veterinary examination took place, both of which showed that Mongol is completely healthy and in great condition. The feline was set free, an hour after he was immobilized for examination and a change of collars.
The goal of tracking snow leopards using GPS is to gather information about his movements using the Argos satellite system. Data from Mongol’s collar will be gathered in two places: at Severtsov Institute and at the Reserve, and makes it possible to comprehend his movements and possible migration paths.
Studying snow leopards in the Reserve takes place within the framework of the “Wild Cats of Southern Siberia” project which is funded with support from the All-Russia Russian Geographic Society, Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve, Khakassky Nature Reserve and Pozarym federal Refuge and is under the personal supervision of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Currently, Sayano-Shushensky Reserve has the largest protected group of snow leopards in Russia, with 9 adults. During mating season, the number of wild felines within the Reserve grows to approximately 15 snow leopards.
Specialists are confident that this stable group of leopards persists thanks to strong enforcement efforts based on scientific study and comprehensive activities that increase environmental awareness and popularize knowledge about rare animals.
Enforcement improves annually thanks to planned, programmatic, and project activities. Joint patrols are conducted by staff from the region’s protected areas, and the frequency of patrols is increased in areas where snow leopards are resident. Improvements are being made to equipment and technology required for enforcement, science, and environmental education.
The Wild Cats of Southern Siberia program and Snow Leopard Study and Monitoring Program are ongoing, and that means that new discoveries will be made about the life of snow leopards.
Press Office, Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve
You can read about the controversial history of Mongol on The Altai Project’s website: http://www.altaiproject.org/2011/03/mongol-is-free/
Jennifer Castner jennifer@altaiproject.org Director, The Altai Project Moss Beach, CA (c) +1.510.393.5525
http://altaiproject.org Strengthening communities and protecting nature in Altai
Mass mountain protest against mega ski resort in rare snow leopard territory – Letter sent to President signed by 7,000 campaigners gets snubbed, so “Flesh Mob” take to the snowy peaks to protest.
The central part of the National Park – Kok-Zhailyau gorge – is planned to become a place for a new huge ski resort and real estate development.
The National Park is above the Big Almaty Lake – home to a number of globally and locally endangered species which are listed in Kazakhstan’s Red Book of endangered species.
Plans for the construction encompass a huge swathe of land up to the border of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, which is the prime habitat of the extremely rare snow leopard, Turkestan lynx (Lynx lynx isabellinus), Ibis bill (Ibidorhyncha struthersii), Tetraogallus himalayensis, Menzbier’s Marmot (Marmota menzbieri) and others.
Say the campaigners “The ski resort is only a disguise for the actual plan, which is to build private luxury houses, hotels and a golf-course in the very heart of the National Park. The Almaty Mayor’s Office and private business interests are lobbying the legislature to make amendments to laws and regulations so that they could not be accused in breaking the law and reach their goals”
“Our deep concern about this is that not only the integrity of the National Park will be destroyed but the ecology of the city of Almaty, adjacent to the National Park, will be dealt a deadly blow as well.”
“Currently Almaty is rated as number 4 in the list of the most polluted cities in the world by Newsweek. The city gets most of its fresh air and water from the “disputed” part of the National Park.”
“More then 7000 people signed an open letter to president Nazarbayev against this plan, but there has been no answer, and the city government continues to push the plans..”
In 2002 the Park was included into the tentative list of objects in Kazakhstan to be nominated for the status of UNESCO World Heritage (http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1681/).
Thanks to SLN member Tshewang Wangchuk for alerting us to the footage below of three snow leopards, taken by a yak herder with cameras supplied by the Bhutan Foundation.
January 2013: Presenting the first-ever evidence of the snow leopard Panthera unica in Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh, a recently-published paper has recommended further studies to help generate baseline information for conservation of this endangered species.
The snow leopard in Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary was sighted dragging its kill (a young ibex) by researchers – Neeraj Mahar and Sajid Idrisi – during a Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) survey in 2010 to help the Forest Department prepare an inventory of the area’s wildlife. It was recorded at an altitude of 3,376 m.
“While this opportunistic sighting by our team established snow leopard presence in Kugti, it raised a number of questions. Is Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary and nearby protected areas a snow leopard habitat? Or do they follow the prey to lower altitudes during winter, possibly from Lahaul or other nearby areas? This can only be verified with further focused studies,” said Dr. Rahul Kaul, Chief Ecologist, WTI, one of the authors of the paper.
Very little specific information exists on the distribution of snow leopards in India. Rough estimates put the population at 400-600 along the Himalayan region in India, and about 4080-6590 across the world (12 countries where it is found). Five Indian states, three in the western Himalayan region – Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and two in the north-eastern region – Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, are known to host snow leopards in the country.
“Snow leopards inhabit the non-forested zone above the tree line – around 3,200 metres in the western Himalayas and around 4,200 metres in the eastern Himalayas, going over the Greater Himalayan crest into the Trans Himalayan region,” explained Dr. Yash Veer Bhatnagar of the Snow Leopard Trust and Nature Conservation Foundation, adding that the common leopards are ‘replaced’ by snow leopards in these areas.
The snow leopard is listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and is classified as ‘Endangered’ in the IUCN Red List. Yet, as other carnivores in India, it is threatened due to conflicts with people, retaliatory attacks, prey depletion due to competition with livestock and hunting, poaching, and unplanned development in their habitat.
