Snow Leopard Conservancy -- Focus

Livestock depredation is a significant problem across the range countries of snow leopards. sheep in corral near Mt. Qomolangma (Mt. Everest), Tibet When a cat enters a corral full of panicked sheep and goats, its kill instinct is triggered, and it will keep attacking until all movement stops. We know of 107 animals being killed this way in one incident. Livestock owners will retaliate if they can, by killing the snow leopard. Ironically, such loss of livestock can be avoided by making the corral predator-proof, improving animal husbandry techniques and educating herders on the importance of wildlife as a resource for generating sustained income.

Besides lax herding and guarding, other important conservation factors include habitat loss and fragmentation, and poaching of the natural prey base. As the number of wild prey declines, snow leopards turn to domestic stock for their survival. Prey densities are usually lowest in unprotected areas. These areas also support higher numbers of people and their livestock – which snow leopards quickly learn are not as wary as their wild cousins. They may then become habitual depredators. Breeding females trying to feed hungry cubs are especially vulnerable to herder retribution. Herders will also take cubs from the maternal den.

herder with goat kill - Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Livestock losses vary widely but can go as high as 10% or more of the herd in depredation “hotspots,” a significant economic impact where the annual income might be US $200 or less. Like their counterparts in the U.S., herders in the Himalaya tend to blame predators without adequately accounting for other mortality such as disease and accidents. Many herders have abandoned proven traditional shepherding practices. In addition to less vigilant guarding, their stock often forage in areas offering good stalking cover for snow leopards. With more children in school and thus not serving as shepherds, families are increasingly letting their stock roam freely during the daytime, or keeping them in poorly constructed livestock pens at night. Indeed, it has been argued that pastoralists are supporting snow leopards by providing them with a ready supply of food! Yet Central Asia’s alpine pastures have long been used by resident and nomadic herders, so eliminating livestock is not an option in most areas.

Herders respond to livestock depredation by demanding compensation from the government. But paying for such loss is not a sustainable solution, as it fails to address the root causes. By contrast, broken corral door - Markha, Hemis National Park predator-proofing corrals is a relatively easy and inexpensive proposition. Other possibilities for reducing depredation include the use of trained guard dogs, communal shepherding, and preferential access to sheep or goat breeds with well-developed anti-predator traits (native rather than exotic breeds).

Still, it is a fact that livestock predatory losses cannot be entirely eliminated. The real question is how to maintain depredation at a manageable level while helping local people to perceive the greater worth of having a live snow leopard raher than a pelt of one that took their livestock. Apart from reducing depredation, this means increasing local incomes and strengthening community stewardship of alpine ecosystems. This is the challenge on which the Snow Leopard Conservancy is focusing its efforts, seeking ways of helping local people regain their willingness to co-exist with large predators.

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