Research
Rapid assessment of snow leopard, it’s prey blue sheep and human-snow leopard conflict in Humla district, Nepal
Principal Investigator
The snow leopard Panthera uncia is Endangered in the national red list of Nepal and legally protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973 of the Government of Nepal. So far, efforts in research and conservation of snow leopards have been focused on protected areas and unprotected lands remain largely overlooked. We conducted snow leopard and its main prey, the blue sheep and human-snow leopard conflict assessment in Limi Valley of Humla district during July-August 2015. This area includes an important unprotected part of suitable habitats for this big cat including other highland wildlife. We walked 20 sign transects covering a total distance of 12.02 km and located 50 sign sites with a sign density of 6.9 ±1.6 signs per kilometer. A total of 221 blue sheep was counted with an estimated density of 1.11 individuals/km2. The survey successfully recorded the snow leopard in two camera trapping locations and three different individuals were identified. This is first camera trap image of snow leopard outside protected area network in Nepal. In over 18 months’ time, local households reported loss of 94 livestock (yak=61 and goat & sheep=31) to snow leopard with an average loss of 5.22 livestock per year. This loss constituted about 5.22% of total livestock holdings (1794 livestock) in that year. Human-snow leopard conflicts, prey base decline, illegal hunting, competition with livestock and lack of awareness are major conservation issues in the valley.
Funding:
