AS MANY as 450 endangered snow leopards have been killed every year since 2008, according to a report on the fate of the mountain cats.
Only 4000 to 7000 of the animals are thought to remain in the 12 mountainous Asian countries they inhabit. A big surprise is that herders are responsible for more than half the killings – 55 per cent – in revenge for leopards attacking their livestock, with only 21 per cent of the cats taken by poachers.
“It’s a completely new insight, and provides a very important point for discussion on how to ensure snow leopards are protected,” says Rishi Sharma, leader of the snow leopard programme at wildlife charity WWF. Sharma is a co-author of the new report by TRAFFIC, a global organisation that monitors the illegal trade in endangered species. The study used government data and interviews with local leopard experts.
“More than half the killing is not for illegal trade as such, so as long as we don’t address these issues affecting local communities, it will continue,” warns Sharma. He adds that the insight offers potential ways to address the problem. First, he says, governments in the 12 countries across the leopard’s range should increase the funds available to compensate herders whose animals are killed. Second, herders should be given extra materials to strengthen the pens where they keep their animals at night.
This article appeared in print under the headline “450 snow leopards killed a year”