Abstract: Executive Summary:
The report is part of a project aiming to strengthen capacities to implement CITES, especially in
Central Asia and to satisfy the CITES‐related requirements of trading partners, to prevent
overexploitation and to ensure legal international trade in wild fauna and flora does not exceed
sustainable levels. The objective is to enhance the policies and regulations concerning trophy
hunting in selected range States of the Argali Ovis ammon: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian
Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and to provide a framework for the establishment of
sustainable hunting programmes that support conservation. This report is focused on the relevance
of trophy hunting for conservation and associated local livelihoods.
Sustainable use of biological diversity is an integral part of the Convention on Biodiversity (1992) and
is seen as a valuable tool in conserving biological diversity. The Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines
(AAPG) set out the basis for sustainable use of natural resources. The IUCN SSC1 Guiding Principles on
Trophy Hunting as a Tool for Creating Conservation Incentives, and the European Charter on Hunting
and Biodiversity provide further guidance on the sustainability of trophy hunting, including on highly
threatened species. The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC) together
with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has also developed Best
Practice Guidelines for trophy hunting.
All five project countries are Parties to CITES, except Tajikistan, which has begun the accession
process. Argali are the focus of the trophy hunting in the region and they represent the most
expensive trophy in the five project countries. Other CITES‐listed hunting species are Brown Bear
Ursus arctos, Wolf Canis lupus, Musk Deer Moschus moschiferus, Eurasian Lynx Lynx lynx (all mainly
in Russia) and Houbara Bustard Chlamydotis undulata. Markhor Capra falconeri and Urial Ovis
orientalis have also been hunted at times but are not the object of regular trophy hunting
programmes at present. Other widely hunted species are not listed in the CITES Appendices.
A recent analysis by TRAFFIC of the CITES trade database showed that 10 245 hunting trophy items
from species listed in the CITES Appendices were exported from the project countries between 2000
and 2010. Almost all trophy items consisted of Argali, Brown Bear and Wolf. Most were exported
from Russia (9473 trophies), with smaller numbers from Tajikistan (705), Kyrgyzstan (668), and
Kazakhstan (126), and 13 from Uzbekistan.
In the region, wildlife is generally the property of the State, which awards rights to use it to
individuals or other entities. National legislation covering hunting and wildlife protection may refer
to sustainable use but this is undefined. The legal rights of local communities are also not generally
specified. FAO and CIC produced a review of national legislation that set out in detail the basic
principles of sustainable wildlife management laws (2008). One of the main findings was that
legislative frameworks in the region frequently consisted of different legal instruments that were not
always harmonized and sometimes overlapped. In some cases, there was also a lack of institutional
clarity, with overlapping jurisdictions among different agencies.
Poaching for meat and trophies or commercial products is a significant factor across the whole
region, negatively affecting all the main hunting species, as well as protected species. Wild
populations have been reduced, sometimes drastically so. Poaching of Argali and other mountain
ungulates may be carried out by military or border personnel and is not restricted to areas outside
formal nature reserves: indeed, law enforcement and protected area staff are sometimes complicit
in illegal hunting, driven in part by the very low salaries. There are numerous recent examples of
poaching and illegal trade in trophies of CITES‐listed species. The actual level of illegal off‐take is
unknown. Known cases may represent a very small fraction of the real total. The wildlife
conservation sector is under‐resourced across the region with a lack of funding, trained personnel,
transport and other equipment severely limiting the effectiveness of anti‐poaching efforts.
Memoranda of Understanding under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS MoUs) and their
associated action plans for Saiga Saiga tatarica and Bukhara Deer Cervus elaphus bactrianus have
proven to be effective instruments in facilitating species recovery. A CMS Single Species Action Plan
for Argali is in preparation (Roettger & Singh, in prep) and will provide a framework for conservation.
Trophy hunting in the region is predominantly organized on a commercial basis. Community‐based
hunting initiatives in the region are in their infancy and face some legal and institutional obstacles.
There are however promising developments: for example, five community‐based NGOs in Tajikistan
are managing wildlife in legally assigned areas and three of them have hosted hunting clients (on
non‐CITES species). Well‐developed community‐based trophy hunting programmes operate in
Pakistan, targeted at Markhor Capra falconeri which is listed in CITES Appendix I, and in Namibia,
which is widely seen as a leader in such programmes, and while the specific conditions and sociopolitical
background of both differ in several ways from those in the region, they nonetheless
provide instructive guidance on the principles of successful community conservancy organization.
There is an extensive literature on trophy hunting, its potential to contribute to conservation of
biodiversity and local livelihoods, and the potential negative effects of selective harvesting on
species. The consensus view seems to be that selective harvest of trophy‐age males does not impact
negatively in the short term, if only a low proportion of the available trophy‐age individuals are
harvested, but uncontrolled harvest can lead to a decline in horn size and thus trophy quality, as well
as have negative demographic effects. Trophy hunting programmes raise substantial revenues in
some African countries, and in the best cases significant sums are received at community or
conservancy level. However, this is not universally the case and inequitable benefit sharing remains
a major challenge to be overcome. Good governance is an essential requirement when developing
hunting and other forms of community based management initiative.
A possible decline in size of Argali trophies in Kyrgyzstan has been reported and determining
whether this is actually the case, and the causes, is a priority. Standardized monitoring, involvement
of independent experts, transparency in quota setting and allocation of licences are all seen as
prerequisites of well‐managed and sustainable hunting operations. Allocation of long‐term leases for
concessions is needed to motivate managers to invest in anti‐poaching and other conservation
measures and remove the temptation for short‐term profit that threatens the sustainability of the
resource.
Developing all forms of Community‐based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) – trophy hunting
and tourism – is also recommended. As the concept is still new to many parts of the region, and the
legal‐political background is not always sympathetic, building on examples of existing community
conservancies (in Tajikistan) or where there is an administrative basis for local management of
resources (Kyrgyzstan), is likely to be effective. Ensuring that communities and conservancies are
legally empowered to manage and utilise wildlife and to receive revenues for such use is a basic
requirement.
Recommendations on good practice are set out in several publications and salient points relevant to the region are highlighted.

Abstract: Non-invasive genetic techniques utilising DNA extracted from faeces hold great promise for felid conservation research. These methods can be used to establish species
distributions, model habitat requirements, analyse diet, estimate abundance and population density, and form the basis for population, landscape and conservation genetic analyses. Due to the elusive nature of most felid species, non-invasive genetic methods have the potential to provide
valuable data that cannot be obtained with traditional observational or capture techniques. Thus, these methods are particularly valuable for research and conservation of endangered
felid species. Here, we review recent studies that use non-invasive faecal genetic techniques to survey or study wild felids; provide an overview of field, laboratory and analysis techniques; and offer suggestions on how future non-invasive genetic studies can be expanded or improved to more effectively support conservation.

Abstract: The snow leopard Uncia uncia is a globally endangered species, occurring in China and 11
neighboring countries, with a total population of 3500-7000 individuals. China is very important
for Snow Leopards, as it contains both the more than half of the distribution area and the largest
remaining population. However, like other big cats, the density is very low, perhaps less than 1
individual per 100 square kilometers in the western mountains of China. This book first reviewed
ten years of research by Xinjiang Snow Leopard Team (XSLT), and it contains over 300 figures
including maps, illustrations, pictures and photos, 46 tables as well as more than a thousand
references and 1100 key words in the index.
In the past ten years, XSLT has received much support and funding from the Snow Leopard
Trust (SLT) and the Xinjiang Conservation Fund (XCF). In this regard, the Chinese government
has not yet given one cent to support the Xinjiang Snow Leopard Project. Our situation is very
difficult indeed, and it is hoped that this book will inspire future government support.
There are many topics discussed in this work including a decade of successes or failures with
the Snow Leopard Survival Strategy (SLSS from 2002 to 2012). The authors also present findings
from every International Snow Leopard Conference (1978-2008), the stories of 14 experts, the big
events of conservation and research (1776-2012), and many questions for future research in the
appendix. This is the first work about snow leopards in China. It is a popular scientific book that
covers snow leopard monitoring, research, conservation and management, and it could also be
very helpful to nature reserve staff and scientists as well as students, teachers, outdoor explorers,
volunteers and cat lovers.
The book contains the following: preface, table of contents (in English), and chapters on the
ancient records of snow leopards; their place in the family of big cats; research methods and field
logs for snow leopards; their population size and distribution in China; biological knowledge,
conservation and management of snow leopards; their presence in zoos; Nature Reserves in
Xinjiang, the experiences of snow leopard conservation in other countries; appendix; index; and
afterword (ISBN 978-7-03-036723-5, the book was published in March 2013 with total of 616
pages and approximately 0.77 million Chinese words, price: RMB 145.00 Yuan).

Abstract: During a camera trapping survey in Khambachen valley of Kangchenjunga Conservation
Area KCA from 24 April to 26 May 2012 we camera trapped one leopard cat
Prionailurus bengalensis at an altitude of 4,474 meter. This is probably the highest
altitudinal record for the species in its range. Additionally, one melanistic leopard
Panthera pardus was captured at an altitude of 4,300 m, which is probably as well the
highest documented record in the country. Yet at this stage, no obvious reason can
explain these unusual high records for both species, thus more surveys are recommended
for this region.

Abstract: Accurate information about the diet of large carnivores that are elusive and inhabit inaccessible terrain, is required to properly design conservation strategies. Predation on livestock and retaliatory killing of predators have become serious issues throughout the range of the snow leopard. These techniques have inherent limitation in their ability to properly identify both snow leopard feces and prey taxa, To examine the frequency of livestock prey and and nearly-threatened argali in the diet of the snow leopard, we employed the recently developed DNA-based diet approach to study a snow leopard population located in the Tost Mountains, South Gobi, Mongolia. After DNA was extracted from the feces, a region of ~100 bp long from mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene was amplified, making use of universal primers for vertebrates and a blocking oligonucleotide specific to snow leopard DNA. The amplicons were then sequenced using a next-generation sequencing platform. We observed a total of five different prey items from 81 fecal samples. Siberian ibex predominated the diet (in 70.4% of the feces), followed by domestic goat (17.3%) and argali sheep (8.6%). The major part of the diet was comprised of large ungulates (in 98.8% of the feces) including wild ungulates (79%) and domestic livestock (19.7%). The findings of the present study will help to understand the feeding ecology of the snow leopard, as well as to address the conservation and management issues pertaining to this wild cat.