A darting patch of dots, a long trailing furry tail, a vision that blurs every other static beauty in the background, even the mammoth snowclad peaks. The captivating charisma called the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) while elusive, is synonymous with this kind of beauty. But the recent spate of speedy environment clearances to defence-related projects along the China border have threatened to relegate it to a mere mirage.
Known to live in the mountainous regions of central and southern Asia, the snow leopard’s geographical range in India encompasses a large part of the western Himalayas, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas.
Its habitat, also part of the country’s geographic border (much of which remains disputed) and hence a national security issue, has a moderate network of existing roads, except that it is in shambles.
According to officials, most of the defence-related projects pending at the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) pertain to road widening and concretization.
Dr Yash Veer Bhatnagar, who manages the India Programme for the Snow Leopard Trust and works for the Nature Conservation Foundation, says such linear intrusions become much more obvious in forested areas. But in the Trans Himalayas, which is the snow leopard’s habitat, the roads per se may not cause much trouble, but there are other related issues.
“Traffic is usually low on these roads but will need regulation once it increases and high speed travel is possible,” he says.
However, what concerns him the most is the slow completion pace of road construction projects in these regions that rely heavily on a large number of migrant labourers.
“In such sparsely populated areas, several migrant labourers come from poorer parts of India. A few of these get involved in illegal activities, though the scale and seriousness may vary. The most detrimental threat to snow leopards here are the professional poacher, who also get mixed up with this group,” explains Bhatnagar, adding that there are occasions when road alignments may pass habitats of highly endangered animals in India such as the Tibetan gazelle and Tibetan antelope.
“Prolonged disturbance during the construction phase can be very detrimental. Other infrastructure projects such as hydropower generation, and even rail lines have an as yet unassessed impact on the ecosystem,” he says
Immortalized also by Peter Matthiessen’s spiritual memoir, ‘The Snow Leopard’ this majestic creature is listed as globally endangered on the IUCN Red List. The species is listed as Uncia uncia on Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora).
But Bhatnagar believes better military presence along the borders can also help in them maintaining jointly identified biodiversity areas and also assist authorities with wildlife monitoring.
Senior coordinator at WWF-India Rishi Sharma has noticed the snow leopard population decline over the last two decades and attributes it to increasing consumerism, among other reasons.
“Just a couple of decades ago, no one could have imagined that roads and dams would really be a threat to snow leopards as they inhabit very remote mountains. However, consumerist market trends have led to a situation where, for instance in Mongolia, mining companies are lobbying hard to mine for minerals in prime snow leopard habitats. In future the ever-increasing global pressure on energy resources might aggravate this situation. In India too, security threats from our neighbouring countries has forced the governments to plan rapid infrastructure projects in the fragile mountains,” explains Rishi.
He attributed the almost 20 per cent decline in the loss of their habitat, their persecution and decline in their prey base to illegal hunting and trade.
“Unplanned developmental activities, overgrazing by livestock, mining and illegal trade are some of the threats that are emerging more strongly in addition to historical threats such as retaliatory killings of snow leopards. However, it is encouraging to note that in landscapes where conservation organizations have partnered with local communities, snow leopards are doing fine and are often protected,” he says.
Mostly found at elevations of 3,000 to 5,000 metres or higher in the Himalayas, snow leopards prefer steep, rugged terrains with rocky outcrops and ravines because they provide good cover and a clear view to help them sneak up on their prey.
The cat that does not roar usually feeds on blue sheep, the occasional domestic livestock and rodents, but none of the experts have heard of intentional attacks on human beings.
Koustubh Sharma, senior regional ecologist at Snow Leopard Trust reveals that other than a few stray instances where snow leopards may have been cornered, for instance in a corral or a pen, and attacked someone to get free there have been no confirmed instances of any overt aggression on humans by snow leopards.
Rishi Sharma of WWF-India agrees that in the 12 countries where snow leopards occur there have been no such attacks on human beings. In fact, sharing one of the biggest misconceptions surrounding this species, Sharma avers that while snow leopards kill livestock, recent observations by researchers in the Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim show that free-ranging dogs kill much more livestock than snow leopards.
Highlighting another interesting trend uncovered during a study about these elusive cats in South Gobi Mongolia, Koustubh Sharma says there has been an intriguing shift from being male-biased to female-biased (1.67 to 0.38 males per female), which the researchers feel may be indicative of continuing anthropogenic pressures.
The Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) study released in October last year states that according to a 1994 evaluation, the snow leopard population stands between 200 to 600 in India and is spread over an area of 75,000 (sq kms)
Despite national laws to safeguard this endangered species, illegal global trade in fur and bones continues. Some of the other factors dogging conservation efforts are unplanned infrastructure development, retaliatory killings by herders who suffer economic losses due to livestock predation, habitat loss due to climate change and diminished wild prey due to hunting.
The GSLEP study also adds to this list excessive legal hunting, fencing disrupting migratory routes, and in some rare cases, the collection of live animals for display or in the name of rescue.
So how do individual scientists as well as dedicated conservation organizations spread conservation awareness among the locals and tourists?
According to Rishi Sharma of WWF-India, all snow leopard conservation organisations such as Snow Leopard Trust (SLT), Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC), WWF, SLT- Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and Panthera have a very strong education component in their programmes.
Awareness campaigns include popular talks, movie shows, nature camps for school children, posters and other popular media, he says.
“Tourism in these areas is becoming increasingly popular and targeted awareness programmes for tourists too are essential, but this has not been addressed systematically so far. In a few areas such as the homestays run by SLC-local communities in Ladakh, the tourists are sensitized towards nature as well as local cultures,” explains Rishi Sharma, who has a masters degree in Wildlife Science from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
Review Bureau
