Google - AFP, Frankie
Taggart (AFP), 26 December 2012
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This
handout photograph taken by a remote camera trap shows a rare
snow leopard in
Nepal (WWF Nepal/AFP)
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KATHMANDU —
The remorse felt by Himali Chungda Sherpa after he killed three snow leopard
cubs in retaliation for his lost cattle inspired him to set up a scheme to
prevent other herders from doing the same.
Sherpa lost
his cattle near Ghunsa village at the base of Mount Kangchenjunga on the
Nepal-India border, later finding their remains in a cave beside three sleeping
snow leopard cubs.
The
Nepalese herder put the cubs in a sack and threw them into the river, finding
their bodies the next day.
"From
that night onwards the mother snow leopard started crying from the mountain for
her cubs, and my cattle were crying for the loss of their calves.
"I
realised how big a sin I had committed and promised myself that I would never
do such a thing in the future."
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This
handout photograph released by WWF Nepal shows a snow leopard
in a conservation
area (WWF Nepal/AFP)
|
Four years
ago Sherpa, 48, founded with other locals an insurance plan for livestock that
conservationists say is deterring herders from killing snow leopards that
attack their animals.
In doing so
the scheme has given hope for the endangered cat, whose numbers across the
mountains of 12 countries in south and central Asia are thought to have
declined by 20 percent over the past 16 years.
Under the
scheme, herders pay in 55 rupees ($1.50) a year for each of their hairy yaks,
the vital pack animal that is also kept for milk and meat, and are paid 2,500
rupees for any animal killed by the endangered cat.
"The
(Himalayan) communities have been able to pay out compensation for more than
200 animals since the scheme started," WWF Nepal conservation director
Ghana Gurung told reporters at a presentation in the capital Kathmandu.
"The
community members are the ones that monitor this, they are the ones who do the
patrolling and they are the ones who verify the kills."
The global
snow leopard population is estimated at just 4,080-6,590 adults according to
the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which lists the animal as
"endangered" on its red list of threatened species.
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Experts believe just 300 to 500 adult snow leopards survive in Nepal
(Lehtikuva/AFP/File, Jarno Mela)
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Experts
believe just 300 to 500 adults survive in Nepal, and few can claim ever to have
seen the secretive, solitary "mountain ghost", which lives 5,000 to
6,000 metres (16,500 to 20,000 feet) above sea level.
Despite its
name, it is not a close relative of the leopard and has much more in common
genetically with the tiger, though it is thought to have a placid temperament.
"There
has never been a case of a snow leopard attacking a human," Gurung said of
the animal, revered for its thick grey patterned pelt.
It does,
however, have a taste for sheep, goats and other livestock essential for the
livelihoods of farmers and is often killed by humans either as a preventative
measure or in revenge for the deaths of their animals.
WWF Nepal
revealed details of its insurance scheme in filmed interviews shown at the
recent Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival.
Sherpa now
campaigns to convince Himalayan farmers that killing snow leopards is wrong,
but has been frequently told they need to kill the animal to protect their
livelihoods.
"I
swear if I can catch a snow leopard. They rob our animals and our source of
livelihood," herder Chokyab Bhuttia told the WWF.
The
insurance plan, which also covers sheep and goats, was set up with 1.2 million
rupees donated by the University of Zurich.
Since the
Kangchenjunga Conservation Area Snow Leopard Insurance plan was launched four
years ago no snow leopard is thought to have been killed in retaliation for
preying on livestock since.
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Light from
a sunrise is cast on Mount Kangchenjunga on December 22,
2012, as seen from the
Indian side (AFP/File, Diptendu Dutta)
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Locals, who
count the number of cattle attacked as well as tracks, fecal pellets and
scratches in the ground, believe snow leopard numbers have significantly
increased.
"There
is now an awareness among people that the snow leopard is an endangered animal
and we have to protect it. The insurance policy has made people more tolerant
to the loss of their livestock," Sherpa said.
He believes
protecting the snow leopard is vital to boosting the economy in an area which
gets just a few hundred trekkers a year, compared with 74,000 in Annapurna.
"If a
tourist sees a snow leopard and takes a picture of it there will be publicity
of our region and more tourists will come," Sherpa said.
Evidence of
the scheme's benefits will remain anecdotal until the publication next year of
the results of a wide-ranging camera trapping survey.
But locals
are optimistic about the animal's future, according to Tsheten Dandu Sherpa,
chairman of the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area Management Council.
"In this
area there was never any poaching of snow leopards for trade. They were killed
only as a retaliatory act by livestock owners," he said.
"Now
with this insurance policy there will definitely be protection of the snow
leopard and its numbers will increase."
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