Cat’s Cradle

Since 2011, Shi Kun, a wildlife researcher from Beijing Forestry University, has been happy to see more and more sightings of snow leopards, his specialism, in China’s western regions. One was spotted roaming in the Urad Natural Reserve, one on Gangkar Mountain Reserve in Sichuan, and a total of seven have been sighted this year in western China’s Qinghai Province, where the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang (the upper reaches of the Mekong) rivers originate.

In early November, Shi held a symposium in Beijing on the “protection and monitoring” of the snow leopard. The event, also the launch ceremony for the second nationwide wildlife resource research project, was a sum- mit for researchers concerned with the snow leopard, the threats it faces, and how best to protect it.

While extremely rare, the snow leopard is known for its broad range, meaning that tracking is no easy task. The species can be found across more than ten central and south Asian countries, including Mongolia, Pakistan, Bhutan and India.

Listed as “endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List, the leopard is sparsely distributed within its range. In China, it is found in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Tibet and Yunnan provinces, all the way from the far northwest to the southwest, and sitting as it does at the very top of the food chain, its existence is vital to the maintenance of the region’s ecological balance. According to Shi Kun, despite the fact that China boasts more than one third of the total number of snow leopard species in the world, its protection is far from sufficiently enforced when compared to international standards.

Roaming Back

Shi Kun’s shift from ornithologist to snow leopard researcher was, in his own words, a coincidence. One day in 2007, while he was working as a volunteer teacher in Xinjiang, a local shepherd sought Shi’s help when a snow leopard got into his sheep enclosure and was driven up a tree by locals. After witnessing the elusive creature, Shi immediately switched his research focus. Luckily, he won a research grant of 80,000 yuan (US$12,832) to further his study.

Zou Xiaolin, deputy director of the Inner Mogolia Wildlife Protection Center, told NewsChina that she had once spotted the snow leopard on the Gobi in the Urad Natural Reserve.

On April 11, 2011, local herders reported to Urad Nature Reserve staff that they had caught a wild animal that they were unable to identify - it turned out to be a small snow leopard. “It was 90 centimeters in length, and 40 kilograms in weight. Three days later, we released it into the mountain forests.” said Zou.

According to Zou, snow leopards were rare on the reserve, since the animals normally remain in high-altitude areas, between about 3000 to 5500 meters. “But the scientists couldn’t give a reasonable explanation why the snow leopard had appeared on the Gobi, below the snowline,” Zou told our reporter.

After extensive tracking work, Shi noted that the snow leopard would only attack livestock when it lacked prey in the wild.“Normally, it tears open the necks of cows or sheep, and drinks their blood. When it has had enough, it walks away with a strange, almost drunken gait.”

Kill and Trade

Across the Himalayas, snow leopards are hunted for their coveted pelts and bones, and sometimes attacked to prevent them from preying on livestock.

Zhou Minghua, head of the Gangkar Mountain Reserve, admitted to NewsChina that inside the reserve domain, there were generally three to four poaching attempts each year.

According to the Hohhot Evening News, on October 11, 2012, the local customs bureau busted an international smuggling ring trading in snow leopard pelts. It was estimated that the pelts could have been sold for 100,000 yuan (US$16,037).

Zhu Chunquan, IUCN China representative, told NewsChina that in 1972, snow leopards were listed as an endangered species, and in the early 1980s, they were listed on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, and classified as “most endangered” by the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). However, the illegal trade in snow leopards and their body parts still continues today.

Snow leopards are solitary and secretive by nature, and are therefore scarcely seen in the wild. The total snow leopard population has been on the decline in recent years the International Wildlife Preserve Organization estimates the total global population to be between 3500 to 7200, and China, one of the major regions for snow leopard habitation, is home to 2000 to 2500 of them.

According to Zou Xiaolin, trafficking of snow leopards is a regular occurrence in the border regions.

Aside from poaching, conflict between local nomads and the snow leopard is another reason for the decline in numbers.

In 2004 in the Qilian Mountain Reserve, a local was found to have killed a snow leopard in retaliation after the animal killed some of his sheep. The nomad was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Cai Ping indicated that in the last decade, enforcement of wildlife protection in Qinghai Province has resulted in a rising number of Tibetan gazelle and kiang (Equus kiang, the largest of the wild asses in the Qinghai-Tibetan region). With an increasing prey base, the number of snow leopards has also increased.

On the other hand, some argue that mining, road construction and tourist development are impacting heavily upon the habitats of snow leopards.

Plan of Action

Almost all of the countries within the snow leopard’s range have expressed concern about the threats contributing to the decline in populations, and have taken steps to protect them. However, because of their reticence and inaccessible, remote habitats, virtually nothing is known about the ecology or behavior of snow leopards.

Shi Kun told our reporter that international cooperation is very important in the leopard’s preservation.

Through joint efforts from the World Bank and the Snow Leopard Network, the International Snow Leopard Forum will be held in Kyrgyzstan in December, where it is expected that conservation of the species will be written into the cooperation framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO), an intergovernmental mutual-security organization including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

In the eyes of Philip Riordan, director of Wildlife Without Borders, the enhancement of international cooperation cannot hide the fact that inside China, the protection of this species is yet to reach an acceptable standard.

Riordan told our reporter that countries including Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan have finished mapping their action plans. However, the action plans from China and other countries involved are still in the phase of data collection and project discussion. “I hope that China can frame its national snow leopard action plan as early as possible.”

As a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, Riordan also pointed out that in India, the earliest country to promote the action plan, there have been ten protection assignments since 2002, including measures aimed at reducing manmade pressure upon nature resources and the promotion of local protection incentives. “Without political support, protection will be ineffective, and without the participation of the local community, protection won’t be implemented.”

Wang Weisheng from National Forestry Bureau said to the reporter: “Compared to the preservation of the giant panda, our knowledge of the snow leopard is still very limited…only when we can revive the general environment, can we start to talk more about the protection of this species. ”

However, in Wang’s opinion, the issue appears at least to be on the Chinese government’s radar. A report released at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this November stated: “Faced with increasing resource constraints, severe environmental pollution and a deteriorating ecosystem, we must raise our awareness of the need to respect, accommodate and protect nature.”