Snow Leopard Conservation: Tales From the Top of the World

Tales from the Top of the World

Rodney JacksonSnow Leopard Conservancy

Tales from the Top of the World

Introduction by Dr. Don MooreSmithsonian’s National Zoo

Partnering with local people to advance community based stewardship

of snow leopards

Tales from the Top of the World

Rodney JacksonSnow Leopard Conservancy

First Photograph of a Wild Snow Leopard

Pakistan, 1972George B. Schaller

Snow leopardsAdaptations for high mountain life

• Long tail for balance

• Large, padded forepaws & strong chest

• Luxuriant fur

• Enlarged nasal passage & high red blood cell count

What is the Current Status of Snow Leopards?

• Shy, elusive, rarely sighted• Only 3,500-7,000(?) left in wild• Endangered across its 12 range

countries range

Sacred Hermitage, Lapche, Nepal

Ger in Tost Uul, South Gobi

Bactrian CamelsGansu Province, China

Great Gobi National Park, Mongolia

Winter – best time for studying snow leopards

National Parks & Other Protected Areas Critical Habitat for Snow Leopards

Mt Amadablam (with Mt. Everest in background) Sagarmatha NP, Nepal

Skyu-Kaya in Hemis NP, Ladakh (India)

Primary Threats -- poaching for profit or retribution

West Nepal 1976

Photo: NGS

Widespread poaching of wildlife

Snow Leopards Need Good Natural Prey Base

Worst Case Scenario Multiple livestock losses from poorly constructed pens

SLC’s Conservation Strategy

Change local perception of snow leopard as a pest

Foster community-based stewardship of snow leopards, prey & habitat at the landscape level

1. DISCOVER

2. DREAM

3. DESIGN

4. DELIVER

The 4 “D’s”

Community planning from the bottom up

What you seek is what you will find

What you believe in -- and act on – will matter most

Typical Planning Exercise: Ranking of Mortality Sources(Participants don’t need to know how to read or write)

Simple Tools to Visualize the FutureContrasting communities - harmony or conflict?

poster shows different scenarios & stimulates debate

Livestock husbandry

poster commissioned

in the

style of traditional

Buddhist monastery art

Eliminate catastrophic livestock losses by predator-proofing night-time corrals

Photo Steve Winter NGS

Each community corral project protects 5+ snow leopardsfrom poisoning or other retributive killing

Direct Cost: $800 - $2,000

Participatory Planning Achieves Better Results

Poorly-designed & unused corral at base of cliff -- result of top-down planning

• Values indigenous knowledge

• Involve all in planning

• Foster community pride, resilience & self-sufficiency

Pamir Mountains,Tajikistan

Qomolangma Nature Preserve, Tibet

Profitable & Environmentally Friendly Parachute CafésHelp Save Snow Leopards

Solar-cooker for safe drinking water….saving scarce fuelwood

Himalayan Homestays

Experience Traditional Life in a Himalayan Village

Rumbak VillageHemis National Park, Ladakh

www.himalayan-homestays.com

How villagers use extra income from Homestays

• Send children to school in Leh

• Re-invest in homestays & parachute cafes (furniture, solar showers, more items for sale)

• Plant trees & fodder to reduce grazing in wildlife areas

• Village clean-up campaign

• Village Conservation Fund (contribute 10-15% of revenues)

Before, snow leopards were a despised predatorBut now, thanks to SLC …

Snow leopards & other wildlife are like a necklace around our mountains.

Comment by villager to Rinchen Wangchuk, SLC India Director

Photo: Som Ale

Kids’ reader “My Grandmother Says” now

in five languages (including Tibetan

Braille)

Meeting with His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama National Geographic Forum of Conservationists

2006

Photo: NGS

Merging the world of facts & figures with the spirit world

Petroglyphs throughout Siberia’s Altai-Sayan Ecoregion record messages from ancestors

Russia’s Gorno-Altay Republic & Southern Siberia

The Soyot Spiritual Protector

Monument at Sacred Waterfall

Welcoming CeremonySoyot Community

Eastern Sayan Mountains, Siberia

Norbu

Buddhist Lama & Soyot Sharman

Kosh Agash School PlayMay 2010

Snow Leopard FestivalAltai Mountains

Argut River Nature Park

Snow leopards in Tuva - Alexander Kuksin

Camera Trap Training, Gorno-Altai, August 2010

Snow Leopard Video loading….

Hemis National Park, India - 2004

The Story of Togoldor in Mongolia’s Baga Bogd Mountain

Togoldor’s Travels

… video loading…

Non-invasive Genetic Surveys

Scat Survey Sites in Mongolia

Gurvansaikhan National Park – 17 snow leopards detected

(10 ♂ 7 ♀ along 66.9 km of transects)

867 scats collected to date

Russia

China

Remote camera photos taken by villagers in Northern Pakistan

1 (behind Mom)2

3

National Geographic Magazine - June 2008

PBS Nature Series (2006) - Silent Roar

Special Thanks to:American Himalayan Foundation Australian Himalayan FoundationCGMK Foundation Calgary Zoological Society Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund National Geographic SocietyOmidyar Foundation SeaWorld Busch Gardens Conservation Fund San Francisco Zoological Society Shared Earth FoundationThe Christensen Fund Wild Cat Education & Conservation FundWildlife Conservation Network (WCN)

And supporters like you…

Visit www.snowleopardconservancy.org