GILGIT:
A lone snow leopard wrecked havoc in a remote valley of Gilgit one night, killing 68 goats in six separate incidents, officials said on Thursday. The attacks also left six goats critically injured.
The animal broke into the corrals at Dhee Village, Gojal near the Pak-China border before killing the goats, Rehman Posh, a conservationist working with the Khunjerab Village Organisation, told The Express Tribune on Thursday.
“Bodies of the animals were scattered all over the place after the incident,” said Posh, adding that the people got enraged over the depredation that inflicted a huge financial loss on them.
Giving the breakdown, Rehman Posh said that 23 of the goats belonged to Mirza Mohammad, 13 to Ali Baig, 12 to Bahadur, nine to Aslam, seven to Ghulam Rasool and four to Qalandar Shah.
Talking about the different organisations that are trying to protect the endangered species, a group of villagers said they were not satisfied with their “mere lip services”.
“We have submitted our complaints. But they just come to tell us the importance of the snow leopards. They never recompense the poor herders who bear the losses,” a farmer said.
DFO Wildlife, Ghulam Mohammad, while regretting the losses, said the communities will make them up by the fees obtained from trophy hunting of Ibex and Markhor. “Apart from the trophy hunting fee, 75 percent of the entry fee of Khunjerab National Park also goes to the communities, and we hope that the loss is somewhat covered up with this income,” he said.
Attacks of snow leopard on the goats are frequent in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) as conservations blame loss of habitat, climate change, and scarcity of food are some of the factors behind the belligerent attitude of the cat. Sources say about 100 animals have been killed by snow leopards in G-B in the past one year.
Wildlife: Snow leopard on the prowl in Gilgit
By Shabbir Mir
Published: April 5, 2011
The endangered animal has been on a killing spree of cattle for weeks.
GILGIT:
A snow leopard – also known as the Uncia or Panthera uncial – went on a killing spree in a remote Valley of Gilgit late on Sunday, slaughtering a dozen goats owned by a poor shepherd.
The incident occurred in a pre-dawn attack at Nazim Abad – a village of Sost Gojal, which is about 300 kilometres from Gilgit and is adjacent to the Pak-China border at Sost.
Chairman Khunjerab Village Organisation (KVO) Rehman Posh, who is also a conservationist, told The Express Tribune that, “The wild cat has killed 11 live stock including goat and sheep.” He added that the snow leopard had managed to break into a cattle shed, belonging to Ashim Shah, a shepherd.
“I examined the spot after a villager informed me of the incident and found that seven cattle were dead while four were seriously injured,” he said, adding that the wounded animals were put down as they had little to no chances of survival.
Posh said that the snow leopard has been on the rampage for the past couple of week in the valley, as it had previously killed two domesticated animals (yaks) in the Morphun area. He said that in the wake of the attacks, locals have stepped up security of their livestock as the assaults usually come as surprise.
Posh added that the incident was immediately brought to the notice of the forests and wildlife department. Asked if they will provide any compensation to the owner of the cattle, the chairman said that they were in the process of dialogue with the aggrieved party and said that his organisation would provide compensation to the farmer. He, however, didn’t say how much.
Divisional forests officer [DFO] Wildlife Ghulam Mohammad told The Express Tribune that he has assigned the task of verification and compilation of the report of the incident to his subordinates. He said that such incidents in the Gilgit-Baltistan are frequent and that a systematic approach is needed to settle the issue.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2011.
Snow Leopard dies in Wildlife Dept’s custody
DAWN.COM
February 26, 2011 (2 days ago)
The villagers claimed that they had caught the wild cat alive.—File photo
SKARDU: A Snow Leopard which had spread terror among villagers allegedly died in the custody of the Wildlife Department on Saturday.
The wild-cat had come out of a forest in search of food last month and had spread panic among the residents of Minthal by killing livestock.
On Saturday morning, the villagers followed and caught the cat and handed it over to the Wildlife Department but it died soon after.
The villagers claimed that they had caught the wild cat alive.
The Wildlife Department said that it will conduct a post-mortem of the cat after which the cause of its death can be determined.
Video link: http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/26/snow-leopard-dies-in-wildlife-dept%E2%80%99s-custody.html
Wildlife dept to probe leopard death
By Shabbir Mir
Published: February 28, 2011
GILGIT: The wildlife department of Gilgit-Baltistan has constituted a committee to probe the killing of a rare snow leopard beaten to death by residents in a remote village, officials told The Express Tribune on Sunday.
“We have constituted a committee to thoroughly investigate the matter,” said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ghulam Mohammad.
Earlier on Saturday, locals in Mathal, a village in Skardu, captured and tortured a snow leopard, which they claimed had killed dozens of their livestock previously. “This time too, the lethal predator had attacked our livestock and injured it,” said Wafa Khan, a resident of Skardu.
As a precautionary measure, locals said they had been prepared to counter the threat and when they learnt the leopard had ambushed the cattle, they reacted swiftly to save it. “This time around, people were alert so the leopard failed to inflict huge losses,” said a resident from Skardu, Raza Hussain.
Sources said people were waiting for the cat and when it arrived, they tried to capture it alive. Some threw a large blanket around it while others caught her tail. In the wrangling, the wild animal sustained injuries on her head and other parts of her body as it was hit to the wall repeatedly.
“After hectic efforts, the leopard was overpowered and handed over to forest officials,” said a villager, adding that the leopard died while she was in custody of officials from the forest department, who had a veterinary doctor to have the leopard inspected.
DFO Mohammad said that besides forest officials, a veterinary doctor and a snow leopard expert will also be part of the committee that will submit its findings to him. “There are various conflicting reports with respect to the killing of the precious wild animal,” he said, adding that severe legal action will be taken if anyone is found guilty of the killing.
According to wildlife laws, a perpetrator can face more than two years imprisonment for killing the rare cat.
The snow leopard is one of the most endangered wild animals found in the mountainous region.
Conservationists say that wild animals turn towards human settlements when they don’t find food in the mountains. “When illegal hunting of animals such as Markhor and Ibex will take place, these animals will naturally turn towards human settlements in search of food,” said an environmentalist in Gilgit. He added that the survival of this precious animal is under threat due to illegal hunting.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2011.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/124929/wildlife-dept-to-probe-leopard-death/
50 cattle killed by snow leopard in Khunzhrav
Posted on November 21, 2010 by Pamir Times| http://pamirtimes.net/
Khunzhrav (misspelled as Khunjrab), November 2010: The big cat (Snow Leopard) has killed over four dozen sheeps and goats belonging to Mirza Muhammad of Moorkhun village, in Gojal Valley.
According to reports the beast attacked at night and killed the sheeps and goat, without facing any resistance from anyone.
Locals were of the view that as part of the Snow Leopard Conservation Project, killing of the beast has been legally prohibited, because of endangered status among the world’s rarest animals.
While appreciating the need to not kill the Snow Leopard, the locals are worried about safety of their cattle, which are major means of livelihood for many families.
Whether the cattle were attacked by one or more Snow Leopards is unclear
In the past similar incidents of cattle being killed by the Snow Leopard have taken place but the farmers have not been compensated by the government or other relevant organizations.
There is a fear that the locals might resort to killing of the endangered animal to save their cattle. In order to stop this from happening, it is important that the national and international organizations devise proper compensation plans for the affected farmers.
BEIJING, March 29 (Reuters) – A severe winter has left 4.5 million dead animals in stockyards across the Mongolian steppes, and many poor herders face the loss of all their property just before the important breeding season.
About a tenth of Mongolia’s livestock may have perished, as deep snows cut off access to grazing and fodder.
The damage to the rural economy could increase demands on Mongolia’s already-stretched national budget, which relies on mining revenues to meet spending commitments.
The Red Cross launched an emergency appeal for 1 million Swiss francs to assist Mongolian herders, after it estimated that 4.5 million livestock have died in the country since December.
“The numbers of livestock that have perished have gone up very, very quickly and dramatically now to about 4 million which is roughly a tenth of the whole livestock population,” Francis Markus, communications director for the Red Cross’ East Asia delegation, said in Beijing after returning from Mongolia.
“This means that thousands of families, mostly coming from the poorest and most vulnerable layers of the herder population, have lost their entire flocks of animals and have been left in a very, very distraught and very, very desperate state.”
Roughly one-quarter of Mongolia’s 3 million people are nomads, while others also raise livestock in fixed settlements. Many go deeply in debt to buy and raise their herds, in hopes of making the money back by selling wool, meat and skins.
A similar combination of a summer drought, followed by heavy snow and low winter temperatures, which is known in Mongolian as a ‘zud’, caused widespread hardship in Mongolia a decade ago.
As a result, impoverished herder families flocked to the slums outside the capital, Ulan Bator, straining the city’s ability to provide basic services.
“The herding community’s situation is very hard now. The best off are those who still have around 40 percent of their livestock left and in the worst 50 cases are those who have lost absolutely everything,” said Zevgee, speaker of the county parliament in Bayangol, southwest of the capital.
This zud was the worst for several years, with temperatures dropping to 40 degrees Celsius below zero or colder in 19 of Mongolia’s 21 provinces, according to a World Bank report.
Around 63 percent of Mongolia’s rural residents’ assets are their livestock, it said, and at least 35 percent of the population earn a living from their animals.
Herder Tsendjav said that she had no option but to rely on the government and aid to survive the weather.
“I have seen many zuds that have caused the loss of numerous animals but I have never seen a zud as bad as this one,” she said at a Red Cross aid dispensary.
(Writing by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
Nepal has been my second home for more than 30 years. During that time I have written several books set in Kathmandu and authored dozens of articles about conservation and development projects – from the first micro-hydel project in Namche (1983) to the post-war plight of Chitwan’s tigers.During the past month, I have been following closely what seems to be a campaign against Scott Mason, who for nine years has been operating a parahawking business in Pokhara. The writers in Republica were outraged that Mason is keeping endangered Himalayan vultures— even alleging animal abuse. A public outcry has followed these accusations. Quite suddenly, laws that prohibit parahawking – a sport that Mason originated – are allegedly coming to light.
At the risk of taking up a bit more space than is usual, let me share with you a story. In 1984, in Lhasa, Tibet, I encountered two nomads with a cardboard box. Inside the box was a baby snow leopard, which they had captured after shooting its mother (who, during a particularly hard winter, had attacked their livestock). It was the intention of the nomads to sell the snow leopard to the highest bidder: Either a pharmacist, who could sell its bones as a Chinese aphrodisiac, or to a carpet merchant, who could sell the animal’s skin.
I bought the leopard from the nomads myself – an act of compassion that instantly made me a criminal, in possession of an endangered species. Unfortunately, I was in no position to rehabilitate this animal, much less release its progeny (if breeding were possible) into the wild. If I had been, I would have done so without hesitation.
By the greatest good luck, I was introduced to another traveler visiting Lhasa at that time: The renowned zoologist George Schaller, immortalized in Peter Matthiessen’s “The Snow Leopard.” Schaller assured me of one thing: An injured predator – like a snow leopard or a Himalayan raptor – can almost never be returned to the wild. Unable to hunt, they will slowly starve and die. But even Dr Schaller had few alternatives. He acted as an intermediary, and made it possible for me to hand the animal over to the Chinese authorities without penalty. The snow leopard died some years later, in captivity in the Beijing zoo.
Scott Mason has spent nine years rescuing and caring for crippled, poisoned or displaced Himalayan raptors (for an indirect commentary on habitat destruction, please see your own article of Feb 18, ”35 New Hotels in Pokhara”). Locals often bring Mason injured birds, which he nurses back to health. To the best of his knowledge, there are no effective alternatives in Nepal for raptor rehabilitation.
Over the past nine years, Mason has worked with about 25 birds. Whenever possible, they are returned to the wild. Some of the rescued chicks have been “imprinted” in the care of human hosts. They cannot hunt on their own, are trained to fly with paragliding pilots and receive rewards of meat. Like the falcons of Mongolia they remain noble creatures, navigating the thermals above some of Nepal’s most beautiful mountains.
But not all Mason’s birds are suitable for training—and some arrive with broken wings or torn tendons, too damaged to ever fly again. These birds are cared for, fed, and exercised by Mason daily.
It is true that Mason is a paragliding pilot, and that he makes a living from his parahawking business. This, in turn, helps support his conservation efforts. But anyone who has seen Mason caring for his raptors –often for 12 hours a day – appreciates his incredible love for, and commitment to, these birds. Like the Jane Goddall or the late Dian Fossey, his vocation transcends business.
I support all laws which prohibit the keeping or selling, for exploitive purposes, of any endangered species. But Mason is not exploiting Himalayan vultures; he is saving them from extinction. Mason has continually supported international efforts to bring international attention and aid to the plight of these birds – including a project, with Bird Conservation Nepal, to launch a “Vulture Restaurant” in Pokhara which will help fund further raptor rescue efforts.
Without these efforts, and the facilities that Mason has developed, rescued vultures would likely share the fate of my Tibetan snow leopard.
The most sensible course from here would be to accord Mason the well-deserved status of an exemplary conservator and teacher, fully empowering him to work with local authorities and students to publicize the plight of the raptors. He deserves not censure, but the full support of Nepal’s people and government.
I love Nepal, and admire many things about the Nepali people. But I find the tendency to target successful foreigners, and distort their efforts at building a strong infrastructure, enormously troubling. There are many grievous problems that we—Nepalis and visitors together—must address in Nepal. Attacking an internationally respected pilot and conservationist is perhaps not the best use of our energies.
ENVIRONMENT-INDIA:Wildlife – Kashmir‘s Other Conflict By Athar Parvaiz
SRINAGAR, Feb 5 (IPS) – Decades of separatist militancy in Indian Kashmir and the massive response to it by the armed forces have taken a toll on human life. But, what is less known is the fact that this and other human activity have exacerbated dangers posed to the state’s wildlife.
“Human-animal conflicts have assumed alarming proportions in the region,’’ Asghar Inayati, regional wildlife warden, told IPS.
“Every now and then we receive reports of attacks by wild animals causing death, injuries (sometimes serious) to human beings and livestock. Over the last three years 49 people and 404 animals have died in these conflicts,” Inayati said.
But, in that period, more than 200 wild animals were also rescued and released into the wild by staff of the wildlife department who intervened in potential conflict situations.
“Animals are often get killed, captured or are harmed in retaliation and these conflicts are a major threat to the continued survival of many species,” A. K. Srivastava, chief wildlife warden of the region, reported to the government recently.
In the winter of 2006 a frenzied mob burnt a bear to death in a hamlet of Kashmir‘s Tral township. Over the last few years there have been many such incidents where people have tried to capture the animals or kill them.
This despite the fact that killing the Asian black bear, which has been declared an endangered species under the Indian Wildlife Act, carries a prison sentence of 2-6 years.
Srivastava believes that the steadily decreasing forest cover, a result of legal and illegal logging operations and human encroachments into the forest, is a direct cause for increasing encounters between humans and animals.
Since the start of the armed insurgency in Kashmir in 1989, the central government has massively boosted the presence of army and paramilitary forces which are mostly deployed in the forest areas, particularly along the fenced Line of Control (LoC) that divides Indian Kashmir from the Pakistan-administered part of the territory.
“The conflict between the military and the militants in Kashmir is indirectly contributing to the increase in the number of man-animal conflicts,’’ a forest official who cannot be identified because of briefing rules told IPS.
“Due to human movement in the forests and the fencing of the LoC, the natural habitat of the wild animals has got disturbed; this is one of the reasons that they stray into human settlements,’’ he said.
Unofficial figures put the number of army and paramilitary troops deployed in the state at around one million, but the government disputes this figure saying it is “far smaller than that’’.
The army and paramilitary have set up camps in the forest areas where they believe militants often take refuge. “Presently there are over 671 security camps in Kashmir which occupy more than 90,000 acres of land,” says rights activist Gautam Navlakha.
Following a ceasefire agreement with Pakistan in 2003, India erected a patrolled, security fence along the 742-km-long LoC.
India accuses Pakistan of training Kashmiri militants on its side of the LoC and pushing them into Indian Kashmir. “The fence may have stopped the militants from crossing over to this side of LoC, but it has had an impact on the natural habitat of wild animals in the process,” says the forest official.
“There are several other factors also responsible for increasing incidents of conflict between wild animals and humans. These include shrinkage of habitat due to expanding human population, livestock and developmental activities, changes in the land-use pattern, decline in the natural prey base, climate change and urbanisation,” says Abdul Rouf Zargar, a wildlife warden.
According to Zargar, wild animals endangered by conflict with humans include the Asiatic Black Bear, Common Leopard, Rhesus Monkey and Langur.
Kashmir is home to several animal species that are listed as endangered like the Kashmiri red stag called ‘Hangul’ and the Snow Leopard (also called ounce). Hanguls were once a major attraction in the mountain-ringed forests of Dachigam near Srinagar, summer capital of Kashmir.
The Hangul is the only surviving sub-species of the red deer family in the world, and after its population declined to about 150, the wildlife department began, this year, a programme of captive breeding to save it from extinction.
Efforts by the wildlife department to save the Snow Leopard, listed as ‘endangered’ in the IUCN (International Conservation Union) red list of threatened animals, include helping sheep and goat farmers to build better barricades and shelters for livestock.
While the Snow Leopard rarely attacks humans, its predatory habits lead them into livestock shelters, entering through ventilators or broken doors and windows. Here they are often trapped and killed.
Wildlife authorities have issued advisories to the citizens to try and minimise chances of conflict with the wild animals and have supplemented it with a number of guidelines for them to follow.
“We cannot stop these incidents entirely, but we are making efforts to minimise them,” says Inayati. “We have taken a number of measures like the constitution of coordination committees, comprehensive management plan for handling the conflicts, and research studies on conflicts and animals involved.”
Recently, the wildlife department began a programme of studying the Asiatic Black Bear’s home ranges, habitat use, breeding nature and behavioural traits. “We fixed radio collars around the neck of the bears and tracked theri movements,‘’ says Intisar Suhail, wildlife warden in central Kashmir.
“We captured one aggressive bear a couple of months ago and kept it under semi-captivity at DachigamNational Park. We released it to study its behavioural pattern of this animal using the radio collar and then recaptured it when it started attacking humans again,” Suhail told IPS.
“Now we will subject him to the ‘aversion technique’ by which animals are subjected to unpleasant stimulus so that it avoids human populations and stays in the forest areas,’’ he said.
This article from The Times of India, 25 Nov 2008:
SHIMLA: Overgrazing by livestock in a national park in Himachal Pradesh is threatening the survival of the Asiatic ibex – a wild goat specie – that in turn is crucial for the snow leopard population in the area, says a conservationist.
“Overgrazing by livestock and unscientific extraction of various species of flora by locals and shepherds in and around the PinValleyNational Park is depleting its flora,” senior scientist Yash Veer Bhatnagar, who is associated with the Mysore-based Nature Conservation Foundation, said.
Bhatnagar has been studying the ecology of animals in the PinValley park for the past 10 years.
“The Asiatic ibex is mainly threatened due to shortage of food. Grazing pressure by livestock results in competition among species,” he said.
The Asiatic ibex has a wide global distribution spanning over 200,000 sq km – from the Hindukush to the Sutlej gorge along the Himalayas in India to the Tien Shan and Altai ranges in Mongolia and Russia.
“Villages in the vicinity of the park are an immediate threat to the species. The hazards for the wild animals have increased as the park is used from June to November by migratory graziers whose livestock are potential carriers of diseases.
“The dependence of the villagers on the park for wood, fodder and cultivation is also degrading its habitat,” he said.
Rugged with sandy plains and surrounded by barren mountains ranging from 3,650 m to 6,632 m, the PinValley park was established in 1987. It is spread over 1,825 sq km with a core zone of 1,150 sq km.
Bhatnagar advocated the need to check the dwindling population of the Asiatic ibex.
“The Asiatic ibex, along with bharal (Himalayan blue sheep), is an important prey species of the highly endangered snow leopard. Good ibex populations, especially in parts of Spiti, Lahaul, Kinnaur, Chamba and Kullu, can greatly help maintain a good snow leopard population.
“Studies have shown that in areas with a healthy ibex population, instances of snow leopard attacks on herders’ livestock are fewer,” he said.
According to studies conducted by the Solan-based high altitude zoology field station of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), mammalian fauna in the cold desert of the PinValley park is quite diverse.
The ZSI has recorded the presence of the red fox, Tibetan wolf, stone marten, Himalayan weasel, pale weasel and the mouse hare in the park.
Thirty-nine species of birds and 14 species of butterfly are also found in the park. The bird species include the snow pigeon, blue rock pigeon, plain mountain finch, golden eagle, Himalayan griffon, common kestrel and long-tailed shrike.
Himachal Pradesh, probably a storehouse of biodiversity in the western Himalayas, supports 25 percent of the country’s mammalian fauna.
The ZSI in its report, “Fauna of Western Himalaya”, has recorded 447 species of birds and 107 species of mammals in the tiny hill state.
The best sighting of animals can be made between September and November when animals start their seasonal migration to lower altitudes.
Shimla (IANS): Overgrazing by livestock in a national park in Himachal Pradesh is threatening the survival of the Asiatic ibex – a wild goat species – that in turn is crucial for the snow leopard population in the area, says a conservationist.
“Overgrazing by livestock and unscientific extraction of various species of flora by locals and shepherds in and around the PinValleyNational Park is depleting its flora,” senior scientist Yash Veer Bhatnagar, who is associated with the Mysore-based Nature Conservation Foundation, told IANS.
Bhatnagar has been studying the ecology of animals in the PinValley park for the past 10 years.
“The Asiatic ibex is mainly threatened due to shortage of food. Grazing pressure by livestock results in competition among species,” he said.
The Asiatic ibex has a wide global distribution spanning over 200,000 sq km – from the Hindukush to the Sutlej gorge along the Himalayas in India to the Tien Shan and Altai ranges in Mongolia and Russia.
“Villages in the vicinity of the park are an immediate threat to the species. The hazards for the wild animals have increased as the park is used from June to November by migratory graziers whose livestock are potential carriers of diseases.
“The dependence of the villagers on the park for wood, fodder and cultivation is also degrading its habitat,” he said.
Rugged with sandy plains and surrounded by barren mountains ranging from 3,650 m to 6,632 m, the PinValley park was established in 1987. It is spread over 1,825 sq km with a core zone of 1,150 sq km.
Bhatnagar advocated the need to check the dwindling population of the Asiatic ibex.
“The Asiatic ibex, along with bharal (Himalayan blue sheep), is an important prey species of the highly endangered snow leopard. Good ibex populations, especially in parts of Spiti, Lahaul, Kinnaur, Chamba and Kullu, can greatly help maintain a good snow leopard population.
“Studies have shown that in areas with a healthy ibex population, instances of snow leopard attacks on herders’ livestock are fewer,” he said.
According to studies conducted by the Solan-based high altitude zoology field station of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), mammalian fauna in the cold desert of the PinValley park is quite diverse.
The ZSI has recorded the presence of the red fox, Tibetan wolf, stone marten, Himalayan weasel, pale weasel and the mouse hare in the park.
Thirty-nine species of birds and 14 species of butterfly are also found in the park. The bird species include the snow pigeon, blue rock pigeon, plain mountain finch, golden eagle, Himalayan griffon, common kestrel and long-tailed shrike.
Himachal Pradesh, probably a storehouse of biodiversity in the western Himalayas, supports 25 percent of the country’s mammalian fauna.
The ZSI in its report, “Fauna of Western Himalaya”, has recorded 447 species of birds and 107 species of mammals in the tiny hill state.
The best sighting of animals can be made between September and November when animals start their seasonal migration to lower altitudes.
