The Status of Nepal's Mammals: The National Red List Series - IUCN

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species’ range in neighbouring China (Tibetan
plateau), but individuals may move across the
border and into Nepal. Further research needs to
establish the level of movement between
populations on either side of the political border.
Legal Status
CITES Appendix II
Listed in the National Parks and Wildlife
Conservation Act 2029 (1973) as protected priority.
National Population Size
Trend: Decreasing (estimated)
There are no population estimates available for this
species in Nepal, but wildlife field staff report that it
is rarely sighted, possibly having a population as few
as 100 individuals and is believed to be in decline.
National Distribution
This species has a potential distribution across the
whole Trans-Himalaya including the protected
areas of the Annapurna Conservation Area – Upper
Mustang (the eastern limit of its range in Nepal
where is had been observed), Dhorpatan Hunting
Reserve, Rara National Park and Shey Phoksundo
National Park.
Distribution outside Nepal
Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland,
France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India,
Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan,
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan,
Latvia, Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic
Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro,
Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russian
Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
Main Threats
• Poaching for fur.
• Human-wildlife conflict and persecution.
• Habitat loss and alteration due to human
settlements, conversion of land for agriculture
and livestock grazing.
• Disease (rabies or parvovirus).
Conservation Measures in Place
None.
Conservation Recommendations
i) Identify and verify key habitats of the species.
ii) Obtain distribution and population status of the
species in identified areas particularly in protected
areas.
iii) Set up protection and management programmes
for the species and its key habitats through government,
NGO and community participation.
iv) Conduct awareness programmes among the
communities residing in the species range.
v) Train and mobilise local community members to
control carcass poisoning.
vi) Improve guarding systems to minimise livestock
losses and develop livestock compensation schemes
to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
vii) Develop conservation action plan for this species,
co-predators and prey (or as part of a carnivore
action plan).
viii) Initiate trans-boundary conservation initiatives
with neighbouring Eurasian Lynx range countries.
References
Nowell and Jackson 1996, Breitenmoser et al. 2000, Sunquist and Sunquist 2002, Pandey and Chetri 2004,
Baral and Shah 2008, Basille et al. 2008, Kang and Alexander 2009,
Nepal Red List of Mammals Field Technicians Workshop 2010.