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Chapron, G., & Legendre, S. (2002). Some Insights Into Snow Leopard (Uncia Uncia) Demography By Using Stage Structured Population Models.. Seattle: Islt.
Abstract: Based on the limited data available on snow leopard demography, we developed deterministic and stochastic stage-structured demographic models to study the population dynamics of this large cat. Our results reveal that even small leopard populations can persist provided their demographic parameters remain high, but less favorable scenarios would require larger population sizes. Population growth rate is more sensitive to breeder survivals than to any other parameters. A snow leopard population would start declining if yearly mortality claims more than 1/5 of the population. This study identifies poaching as a major threat to snow leopard survival and stresses the importance of long-term studies to better understand snow leopard population dynamics.
Keywords: snow; leopard; uncia; viability; analysis; carnivore; carnivores; domestic; game; demographic; population; mortality; biology; mating; 4910
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Hanson, J. H., Schutgens, M., Baral, N., Leader-Williams, N. (2022). Assessing the potential of snow leopard tourism-related products and services in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal. Tourism Planning & Development, , 1–20.
Abstract: Conservation Enterprise is increasingly promoted to support the conservation of species and landscapes through incentives, such as ecotourism, including in the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), Nepal. Yet the elusive behaviour of snow leopards here limits opportunities for conservation enterprise, particularly those linked to conventional ecotourism forms. Furthermore, the potential to explicitly link local snow leopard-friendly livestock production systems with the tourist market in the area, via eco-certified livestock products, has not been investigated. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the interest, from supply and demand perspectives, in introducing snow leopard ecotourism services and eco-certified products into the ACA tourist market. Questionnaire data were gathered from 406 tourists and 403 local residents. Our results, of interest to managers and researchers alike, show that there is potential to generate funds and support for both snow leopard conservation and community development, and add to the literature on utilising enterprise initiatives as conservation tools.
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Alexander, J. S., Bijoor, A., Gurmet, K., Murali, R., Mishra, C., Suryawanshi, K. R. (2022). Engaging women brings conservation benefits to snow leopard landscapes. Environmental Conservation, , 1–7.
Abstract: Protection of biodiversity requires inclusive and gender-responsive programming. Evidence of success in engaging women in large carnivore conservation remains scarce, however, although women play an important role in caring for livestock at risk of predation and could contribute to large-carnivore conservation. We aimed to assess the performance of an income-generation and skills-building programme for women in Spiti Valley (India) that sought to engage women in local conservation action. Annual programme monitoring together with a one-time survey of attitudes, perceptions and social norms in eight communities exposed to the conservation programme and seven ‘control’ communities revealed: a keen interest and increasing levels of women’s participation over 7 years of programme operation; participant reports of multiple programme benefits including additional personal income, social networking and travel opportunities; and more positive attitudes towards snow leopards among programme participants than among non-participants in the control communities. Women from programme communities recorded in their diaries 33 self-directed conservation actions including improving livestock protection and preventing wildlife poaching. These results show a way forward to purposively engage women in conservation programming towards achieving sustainable and equitable outcomes in efforts to promote carnivore–human coexistence.
Keywords: community conservation; gender; large carnivores; snow leopard; women
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Hanson, J. H. Household Conflicts with Snow Leopard Conservation and Impacts from Snow Leopards in the Everest and Annapurna Regions of Nepal. Environmental Management, , 1 of 12.
Abstract: Impacts on households from large carnivores are frequently reported in the conservation literature, but conflicts between households and large carnivore conservation are not. Employing a human-wildlife coexistence framework that distinguishes between human-wildlife impacts on one hand, and human-conservation conflicts on the other, this paper presents data from Annapurna Conservation Area and Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park, Nepal, each with different models of conservation governance. Using systematic sampling, quantitative information from 705 households was collected via questionnaires, while 70 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants for cross-methods triangulation. 7.7% of households reported conflicts with snow leopard conservation in the previous 12 months, primarily due to damage to livelihoods; these were significantly higher in the Annapurna region. 373 livestock were reported lost by households to snow leopards in the previous 12 months, representing 3.4% of total livestock owned and US$ 132,450 in financial value. Livestock losses were significantly lower in the Everest area. In linear regression models, total household livestock losses to all sources best explained conflicts with snow leopard conservation and household livestock losses to snow leopards but the models for the former dependent variable had very low explanatory power. Conservation in general, and large carnivore conservation in particular, should distinguish carefully between impacts caused by coexistence with these species and conflicts with conservation actors and over the methods and interventions used to conserve carnivores, especially where these negatively impact local livelihoods. In addition, livestock husbandry standards are highlighted again as an important factor in the success of carnivore conservation programmes.
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Chetri, M., Odden, M., Devineau, O., McCarthy, T., Wegge, P. (2020). Multiple factors influence local perceptions of snow leopards and
Himalayan wolves in the central Himalayas, Nepal. PeerJ, , 1–18.
Abstract: An understanding of local perceptions of carnivores is
important for conservation and management planning. In the central Himalayas, Nepal, we interviewed 428 individuals from 85 settlements using a semi-structured questionnaire to quantitatively assess local perceptions and tolerance of snow leopards and wolves. We used generalized linear mixed effect models to assess influential factors, and found that tolerance of snow leopards was much higher than of wolves. Interestingly, having experienced livestock losses had a minor impact on perceptions of the carnivores. Occupation of the respondents had a strong effect on perceptions of snow leopards but not of wolves. Literacy and age had weak impacts on snow leopard perceptions, but the interaction among these terms showed a marked effect, that is, being illiterate had a more marked negative impact among older respondents. Among the various factors affecting perceptions of wolves, numbers of livestock owned and gender were the most important predictors. People with larger livestock herds were more negative towards wolves. In terms of gender, males were more positive to wolves than females, but no such pattern was observed for snow leopards. People’s negative perceptions towards wolves were also related to the remoteness of the villages. Factors affecting people’s perceptions could not be generalized for the two species, and thus need to be addressed separately. We suggest future conservation projects and programs should prioritize remote settlements. |
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Augugliaro, C., Christe, P., Janchivlamdan, C., Baymanday, H.,
Zimmermann, F. (2020). Patterns of human interaction with snow leopard and co-predators
in the Mongolian western Altai: Current issues and perspectives. Global Ecology and Conservation, 24, 1–21.
Abstract: Large carnivores can cause considerable economic damage,
mainly due to livestock depredation. These conficts instigate negative attitude towards their conservation, which could in the extreme case lead to retaliatory killing. Here we focus on the snow leopard (Panthera uncia), a species of conservation concern with particularly large spatial requirements. We conducted the study in the Bayan Olgii province, one of the poorest provinces of Mongolia, where the majority of the human population are traditional herders. We conducted a survey among herders (N 261) through a semi-structured questionnaire with the aim to assess: the current and future herding practices and prevention measures, herders’ perceptions and knowledge of the environmental protection and hunting laws; the perceived livestock losses to snow leopard, wolf (Canis lupus), and wolverine (Gulo gulo), as well as to non-predatory factors; the key factors affecting livestock losses to these three large carnivores; and, finally, the attitudes towards these three large carnivores. Non-predatory causes of mortality were slightly higher than depredation cases, representing 4.5% and 4.3% of livestock holdings respectively. While no depredation of livestock was reported from wolverines, snow leopard and wolf depredation made up 0.2% and 4.1% of total livestock holdings, respectively. Herders’ attitudes towards the three large carnivores were negatively affected by the magnitude of the damages since they had a positive overall attitude towards both snow leopard and wolverine, whereas the attitude towards wolf was negative. We discuss conservation and management options to mitigate herder-snow leopard impacts. To palliate the negative consequences of the increasing trend in livestock numbers, herd size reduction should be encouraged by adding economic value to the individual livestock and/or by promoting alternative income and/or ecotourism. Furthermore, co-management between government and stakeholders would help tackle this complex problem, with herders playing a major role in the development of livestock management strategies. Traditional practices, such as regularly shifting campsites and using dogs and corrals at night, could reduce livestock losses caused by snow leopards. |
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Bhatia, S., Suryawanshi, K., Redpath, S. M., Mishra, C. (2020). Understanding people's responses toward predators in the Indian Himalaya. Animal Conservation, , 1–8.
Abstract: Research on human–wildlife interactions has largely focused on the magnitude of wildlife‐caused damage, and the patterns and correlates of human attitudes and behaviors. We assessed the role of five pathways through which various correlates potentially influence human responses toward wild animals, namely, value orientation, social interactions (i.e. social cohesion and support), dependence on resources such as agriculture and livestock, risk perception and nature of interaction with the wild animal. We specifically evaluated their influence on people's responses toward two large carnivores, the snow leopard Panthera uncia and the wolf Canis lupus in an agropastoral landscape in the Indian Trans‐Himalaya. We found that the nature of the interaction (location, impact and length of time since an encounter or depredation event), and risk perception (cognitive and affective evaluation of the threat posed by the animal) had a significant influence on attitudes and behaviors toward the snow leopard. For wolves, risk perception and social interactions (the relationship of people with local institutions and inter‐community dynamics) were significant. Our findings underscore the importance of interventions that reduce people's threat perceptions from carnivores, improve their connection with nature and strengthen the conservation capacity of local institutions especially in the context of wolves.
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Alexander, J. S., Agvaantseren, B., Gongor, E., Mijiddorj, T. N., Piaopiao, T., Stephen Redpath, S., Young, J., Mishra, C. (2021). Assessing the Effectiveness of a Community-based Livestock Insurance Program. Environmental Management, .
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Maheshwari, A., Sathyakumar, S. (2020). Patterns of Livestock Depredation and Large Carnivore
Conservation Implications in the Indian Trans-Himalaya. Journal of Arid Environments, , 1–5.
Abstract: Livestock is one of the major sources of livelihood for the
agro-pastoral communities in central and south Asia. Livestock depredation by large carnivores is a wide-ranging issue that leads to economic losses and a deviance from co-existence. We investigated the grass root factors causing livestock depredation in Kargil, Ladakh and tested the findings of diet analysis in validating reported livestock depredation. Globally vulnerable snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and more common wolf (Canis lupus) were the two main wild predators. A total of 1113 heads of livestock were reportedly killed by wolf (43.6%) followed by unknown predators (31.4%) and snow leopard (21.5%) in the study site from 2009 to 2012, which comes to 2.8% annual livestock losses. Scat analysis also revealed a significant amount of livestock in the diet of snow leopard (47%) and wolf (51%). Poor livestock husbandry practices and traditional livestock corrals were found to be the major drivers contributing in the livestock depredation. Based on the research findings, we worked with the local communities to sensitize them about wildlife conservation and extended limited support for predator proof livestock corrals at a small scale. Eventually it helped in reducing conflict level and conserving the globally threatened carnivores. We conclude that a participatory approach has been successful to generate an example in reducing large carnivore-human conflict in the west Himalaya. |
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Sharma, R. K., Bhatnagar, Y. V., Mishra, C. (201). Does livestock benefit or harm snow leopards? Biological Conservatio, (190), 8–13.
Abstract: Large carnivores commonly prey on livestock when their ranges overlap. Pastoralism is the dominant land use type across the distributional range of the endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia. Snow leop- ards are often killed in retaliation against livestock depredation. Whether livestock, by forming an alter- native prey, could potentially benefit snow leopards, or, whether livestock use of an area is detrimental to snow leopards is poorly understood. We examined snow leopard habitat use in a multiple use landscape that was comprised of sites varying in livestock abundance, wild prey abundance and human population size. We photographically sampled ten sites (average size 70 sq. km) using ten camera traps in each site, deployed for a period of 60 days. Snow leopard habitat use was computed as a Relative Use Index based on the total independent photographic captures and the number of snow leopard individuals captured at each site. We quantified livestock abundance, wild prey abundance, human population size and terrain ruggedness in each of the sites. Key variables influencing snow leopard habitat use were identified using Information Theory based model selection approach. Snow leopard habitat use was best explained by wild prey density, and showed a positive linear relationship with the abundance of wild ungulates. We found a hump-shaped relationship between snow leopard habitat use and livestock stocking density, with an initial increase in habitat use followed by a decline beyond a threshold of livestock density. Our results suggest that in the absence of direct persecution of snow leopards, livestock grazing and snow leopard habitat use are potentially compatible up to a certain threshold of livestock density, beyond which habitat use declines, presumably due to depressed wild ungulate abundance and associated anthropogenic disturbance.
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