Snow Leopard Survival Strategy - Panthera

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Conservation Education and Awareness Raise awareness of snow leopard conservation issues, concerns, need for action, legal matters, etc through variety of media among different audiences Research required prior to taking action: • Current attitudes or level of understanding of specific issue among the target audience • Level of education, literacy, cultural factors influencing the choice of appropriate media Action Guidelines Policy level Community level Steps: • Integrate conservation education on high altitude ecosystems into national curriculum • Prepare education campaign for law enforcement officers • Develop communication channels for integrating different departments in awareness campaigns: e.g. wildlife; environment; education • Identify local “coordinators” of conservation education, provide training in basic concepts if needed • Identify key conservation issue in target area • Determine desired outcome of conservation education campaign (change in behavior or attitude) • Identify audience(s) to be targeted to achieve specified goal • Determine message to be delivered • Determine appropriate media for delivering message to various audiences • Carry out baseline surveys to determine current levels of awareness • Develop educational materials and disseminate • Conduct monitoring assessment during and after the program Stakeholders/ Potential Audiences: • Government officials in departments that deal with wildlife conservation • Law enforcement officials who may deal with poaching and/or trade in parts of endangered species • Protected Area administration and ranger • Local and foreign development agency staff • Livestock herders • Hunters • Poachers • Women • Young people • Community elders • School teachers • Journalists Potential Pitfalls: • Low levels of education and literacy among residents of many parts of snow leopard range • Linguistic and cultural barriers between different groups even in the same country • Capacity & infrastructure of education systems are often very limiting • Financial sustainability of any education campaign is difficult to maintain, usually reliant on external funding Monitoring Protocols / Success Indicators: • Change in attitudes and behavior • Level of knowledge of wildlife in target audience Public Awareness: • Disseminate lessons learned regarding successful strategies for raising awareness or implementing a conservation education campaign • Promote hands-on education, such as nature clubs 46 | SNOW LEOPARD SURVIVAL STRATEGY
3. Research and Information Needs During the process of listing the threats to snow leopards and the required conservation actions, a set of information needs was also identified. Hence, the list below encompasses the knowledge required to carry-out urgent conservation actions. While any new information about an animal and its basic ecology are welcome, studies designed to answer questions with limited relevance to immediate conservation concerns may be a luxury that we can not afford with a species in danger of extinction. Therefore, the list of information needs contained in this Survival Strategy can, and should, serve as a guide for prioritizing and funding research programs across snow leopard range. The following Master List of Information Needs is not arranged according to priority. A matrix of priority by region and range-wide follows the list. Master List of Information Needs R.1 Snow leopard distribution and “hot spots” R.2 Snow leopard migration and dispersal routes R.3 Snow leopard population size R.4 Snow leopard population trends and factor responsible for changes R.5 Protected Area coverage – extent and representation of habitats (gap analysis) R.6 Agents of habitat degradation and relative impacts R.7 Snow leopard – prey relationships R.8 Prey species distribution and “hot spots” R.9 Prey population baseline and trends R.10 Dynamics of illegal ungulate hunting (sources, local need, uses, trade, etc.) R.11 Dynamics of legal ungulate harvest and baseline statistics (sex/age, effort, trophy size, etc.) R.12 Wild ungulate – livestock interactions (competition) R.13 Ungulate disease – type, areas of occurrence, prevalence, virulence, treatment R.14 Snow leopard poaching levels R.15 Illegal trade in wildlife parts – market demand, sources and routes, value, etc R.16 Livestock depredation rates R.17 Livestock depredation causes R.18 Grazing pressure and range conditions R.19 Snow leopard disease – type, areas of occurrence, prevalence, virulence, treatment R.20 Snow leopard home-range size and habitat use R.21 Snow leopard social structure and behavior R.22 Snow leopard population genetics R.23 Snow leopard food habits R.24 Snow leopard relationship to other predators R.25 Economic valuation of snow leopards R.26 Snow leopard monitoring techniques development/improvement R.27 Socio-economic profiling of herder communities in snow leopard habitat R.28 Methods to alleviate impacts of war R.29 Livestock and human population status and trends R.30 Analysis of existing policies and laws R.31 Human attitudes to snow leopards Prioritization of Information Needs Because threats and conservation concerns vary by region, state, and even local area, it follows that information needs would vary as well. A generalized priority matrix depicts the needs on a regional basis (Table V). Comments on Priority Information Needs Across the snow leopard’s range, gaining a more accurate picture snow leopard distribution and identifying ‘hotspots’ is a critical conservation need. Over most of the range, we are uncertain about where the species now occurs. This emphasizes the need for snow leopard surveys and distribution mapping, the results of which will help identify areas for conservation. Another important and related need is estimating snow leopard population size and monitoring population trends. This reflects a concern that snow leopard researchers share with other carnivore biologists: population estimation techniques for carnivores are poorly developed. Although the tiger has received some attention recently in this regard, there has been limited if any progress in the last two decades in snow leopard population estimation techniques. Considering the globally felt need for estimating snow leopard population and trends, urgent methodological advancement is needed. This will perhaps be best achieved through collaborations with other carnivore biologists, especially tiger researchers. The need for understanding the extent of snow leopard poaching is a high priority across the range, except in the Himalaya. This is not unexpected, since poaching for skin and bones is a very serious threat to the snow leopard in all areas except in the Himalaya. Closely tied to this is the need for quantifying the illegal trade in wildlife parts. This calls for sensitization of and co-operation with law enforcement agencies for better intelligence gathering and law enforcement. An equally strong need is gaining an understanding of human attitudes to snow SNOW LEOPARD SURVIVAL STRATEGY | 47
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Page 7 and 8: Country Strategies and Action Plans
Page 9 and 10: Foreword The range of Uncia uncia e
Page 11 and 12: Executive Summary I. SNOW LEOPARD:
Page 13 and 14: R.17 Livestock depredation causes R
Page 15 and 16: Other names: Ounce (English); panth
Page 17 and 18: There is little information on the
Page 19 and 20: Figure 1: Range wide model of poten
Page 21 and 22: shan in the extreme north of Qingha
Page 23 and 24: tial snow leopard habitat and offer
Page 25 and 26: political will for conservation sho
Page 27 and 28: significant loopholes: for example
Page 29 and 30: its prey species, such as the argal
Page 31 and 32: 2. Threats and Conservation Actions
Page 33 and 34: homes and clothing in many parts of
Page 35 and 36: • Where possible, estimate carryi
Page 37 and 38: Monitoring Protocols / Success Indi
Page 39 and 40: Potential Pitfalls: • High logist
Page 41 and 42: Potential Pitfalls: • Corruption
Page 43 and 44: Potential Pitfalls: • Organized c
Page 45 and 46: Monitoring Protocols / Success Indi
Page 47: Potential Pitfalls: • Requires lo
Page 51 and 52: leopards. This reflects the fact th
Page 53 and 54: Case Studies Jennings, M. D. 2000.
Page 55 and 56: Potential Methods • Develop a sta
Page 57 and 58: Lynx lynx predation on semi-domesti
Page 59 and 60: Stander, P. E., P. J. Haden, Kaqece
Page 61 and 62: Karanth, U. K. and J. Nichols. 2002
Page 63 and 64: officials. It will be necessary to
Page 65 and 66: B. Action Planning Assistance The A
Page 67 and 68: Literature cited Adil, A.W. 1997. S
Page 69 and 70: Jackson, R., G.G. Ahlborn, S. Ale,
Page 71 and 72: (Uncia uncia) population in the sou
Page 73 and 74: Lu Zhi China Yale Univ. School of F
Page 75 and 76: Biek, R and M. Poss. 2002. Using ph
Page 77 and 78: Arctic caribou herd (CAH) have been
Page 79 and 80: Fox, J. L. and R. M. Jackson. 2002.
Page 81 and 82: Harris, R. B., D. H. Pletscher, C.
Page 83 and 84: Jackson, R M. and J. Roe. 2002. Pre
Page 85 and 86: Karanth, K. U. and M. E. Sunquist.
Page 87 and 88: for 62% of the area in panther home
Page 89 and 90: deer migration. Observations of dee
Page 91 and 92: taxa. To prevent or mitigate future
Page 93 and 94: of infection and mortality in Afric
Page 95 and 96: National des Volcans in Rwanda. Two
Page 97 and 98: were post hoc and harvests were pro
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approximately 46% of estimates of i
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Solanki, G. S. and R. M. Naik. 1998
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The influence of sex, body weight,
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trophy management can contribute si
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