IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Jackson, R.; Mishra, C.; McCarthy, T.; Ale, S. | |
| Snow Leopards: Conservation Challenges for the 21st Century | |
| 2007 Conference Proceeding | |
Rare, sparsely distributed and notoriously elusive, snow leopards roam over a vast patch-work of high, fragmented mountain ranges embracing twelve Central Asian countries. The population continues to decline from widespread poaching for their prized fur and medicinally valued bones, killing in retaliation for livestock depredation, and widespread depletion of its natural prey base. Current conservation efforts emphasize anti-poaching, the betterment of traditional livestock guarding practices, predator-proofing of night-time corrals to remove the primary root cause for retaliatory killing, the creation of livestock-free areas, and concomitant provision of economic incentives designed to encourage local people to perceive snow leopards as being "worth more alive than dead." For example, these include handicraft sales in Mongolia, community-based tourism enterprises such as traditional homestays, trekking and nature guiding in India, and livestock insurance and free veterinary care programs in Pakistan. Although implemented under broad community agreements with mutually-agreeable incentives intended to foster balanced coexistence between human and predator, programs are often too narrowly applied, top-down in design and implementation, unduly dependent upon external expertise, heavily subsidized, and difficult to monitor. We examine key elements for enhancing conservation success which may also be applicable to other solitary species occupying remote, fragile alpine rangelands. |
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