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Bigcats News
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Hundreds of snow leopards poached each year
Snow Leopard mother and cub. © David Lawson / WWF-UK  *This image is copyright of its original author New York, USA, 21st October 2016—With possibly as few as 4,000 snow leopards surviving in the wild, a new report from TRAFFIC has found that hundreds of the endangered big cats are being killed illegally each year across their range in Asia’s high mountains. Published ahead of today’s UN meeting on snow leopards and International Snow Leopard Day on Sunday, An Ounce of Prevention: Snow leopard crime revisited estimates that between 221-450 snow leopards have been poached annually since 2008 – a minimum of 4 per week. But this number could be substantially higher since many killings in remote areas go undetected. Combatting poaching and illegal trade of snow leopards is a key objective of the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP), which unites all 12 snow leopard range countries with intergovernmental and non-governmental organization partners. The GSLEP Secretariat is among the organizers of today’s UN meeting(1). “TRAFFIC’s analysis confirms the worrying scale of illegal killing of snow leopards,” said James Compton, Senior Programme Director with TRAFFIC. “This urgent wake-up call provides a blueprint for GSLEP action at national and transboundary levels to protect snow leopards from threats posed by poaching and trafficking.” Using a combination of methods, including seizure records, market surveys and expert interviews to provide the first quantitative estimates of the scale of snow leopard poaching and trafficking since 2003, the report found that the majority of snow leopards are killed in retaliation for attacks on livestock (55%) or by non-targeted methods, such as snares (18%). Only 21 percent of snow leopards were poached specifically for the illegal trade in their pelts and products. However, the report found that over half the retaliatory and non-targeted poaching incidents result in opportunistic attempts to sell, contributing to the estimated 108-219 snow leopards that are illegally traded each year. Interestingly, the report also found a steep decline in the number of snow leopards observed in trade and in markets, particularly in China, which suggests that demand could be falling – perhaps due to increased enforcement. “Even if there is reduced demand for snow leopard skins, the killing will continue unless we all work together to drastically reduce human-wildlife conflict and ensure that mountain communities can co-exist with snow leopards,” said Rishi Sharma, WWF Snow Leopard Programme leader and co-author of the report. “Compensation schemes and innovative predator-proof corrals are making a difference but we urgently need to expand these to benefit communities – and snow leopards – across Asia’s high mountains.” The report calls on governments to mitigate human-wildlife conflict by preventing snow leopards from killing livestock, offsetting the costs of livestock losses, and expanding community-based conservation programmes. It also recommends strengthening both national and transboundary law enforcement, especially as less than a quarter of known cases of snow leopard poaching were investigated and just 14 percent were prosecuted. The report also recommends that TRAFFIC maintains the snow leopard crime database that was developed as part of the current research. The database contains records of seizures and observations of snow leopard killing, capture and trade dating back to 1989. “The snow leopard crime database is a critical resource for everyone involved in efforts to reduce poaching and illegal trade in the species and will help to target interventions at key points across snow leopard range,” said Kristin Nowell, lead author of the report. “But we need to expand efforts to monitor activity on the Internet and social media as snow leopard traffickers may be moving online to try to evade law enforcement.” Snow Leopard, Tiger & Leopard skins for sale in Kabul, Afghanistan, 2011. © D Lawson / WCS  *This image is copyright of its original author According to the report, over 90 percent of the reported snow leopard poaching occurred in five range countries: China, Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Tajikistan. Nepal was also flagged for having relatively high poaching levels considering its relatively small population of snow leopards. China and Russia were most frequently identified as destinations for animals poached in other countries. Afghanistan has also been a major illegal market for snow leopard furs over the past decade. Financial support for the research and publication of the report was provided by the WWF Conservation and Adaptation in Asia’s High Mountain Landscapes and Communities Project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). ---ends--- Notes for editors: (1) A high-level panel event takes place today at the UN Headquarters in New York, organized by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), GSLEP Secretariat and Kyrgyzstan. The meeting aims to: commemorate International Snow Leopard Day; re-enforce GSLEP collaboration and synergies; highlight innovative programming, partnerships and progress on the ground; and strengthen political support and commitment for ongoing and new GSLEP initiatives. (2) Download An Ounce of Prevention: Snow leopard crime revisited (PDF, 4 MB) (3) Snow leopards live at high altitude in the following countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. For more information, please contact: Richard Thomas Phone +44 7921 309176 Email: [email protected] or Richard Lee phone: +41 79 691 4018 email: [email protected] About TRAFFIC TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of IUCN and WWF. About WWF WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. http://www.panda.org/news for latest news and media resources. Friday, October 21, 2016 at 4:01 
Sahil Anant
The carcass of a tiger with its paws missing was found at the Kanha Reserve on Saturday, taking the number of big cat deaths to 23 in Madhya Pradesh this year. Found within three kilometers from the core of the reserve, the carcass was at least two-to-three days old. “Some of its body parts are missing. The four paws have been cut and taken away by the poachers. didnt disturbed the body from its current position as a dog squad will reach the spot in the morning and investigate. It is not clear yet whether the body is that of male or a female tiger. For me its a Female.. And might be some unknown new female ,we do not hv her records. recently one more female also sighted on main roan in last to last evng.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
 
KINGFISHER MALE IS NO MORE :
A Male Tiger was found dead on the morning of 28th Oct in Mukki. The body had puncture wounds on the neck, shoulder region & the cause of death has been ascertained as fatal injuries sustained in a territorial fight with another Tiger. We have been given to understand that the dead Tiger is Kingfisher Male. May KF rest in peace. (10-29-2016, 08:22 AM)Vijay Rajan Wrote: KINGFISHER MALE IS NO MORE : Speculation is rife that either Umarpani Male or Chota Munna killed him as the area where the carcass was found belonged to either/both of them. 
I read this on your fb page @Vijay Rajan , It is disappointing and also it surprises me which other male can do this ? KF was one of the biggest male.
We are discussing it here - http://wildfact.com/forum/topic-tigers-o...4#pid28574 (10-29-2016, 09:44 AM)sanjay Wrote: I read this on your fb page @Vijay Rajan , It is disappointing and also it surprises me which other male can do this ? KF was one of the biggest male. Dear Sanjay, I may be wrong but having observed him over a period of time, IMHO KF was all flab & lacked muscle power as compared to Umarpani Male or Chota Munna. Fitness & agility coupled with raw power emanating from toned muscles do make a huge difference when it comes to emerging victorious in the fight for supremacy. I'd also say that Mukki never had space for 4 Males & 1 or 2 of them getting eliminated was inevitable. I fear for the safety of Mahaveer female's cubs sired by KF now. Just my 2 cents. May he rest in peace.
Agree with you Vijay,
The future of cubs are in dark, I don't know if we should allow nature to take its course or it is time to transfer some of males in some other area ? But something should be done. Conservation effort is working but space left for the animals will create other problem. (10-29-2016, 10:15 AM)sanjay Wrote: Agree with you Vijay, Sanjay, I'm all for letting nature take it's own course of action rather than any sort of intervention by the Forest department. Transferring a few males to some other area or park can never guarantee if the fight for space might never occur. Let them fight it out so that only the fittest survive and propagate their genes for future generations. The phrase "Survival of the fittest" should remain sacrosanct IMHO. 
whoever the other tiger is, he has to be badly injured because Kingfisher wouldnt have gone down without a fight and i keep hearing CM or Umarpani but what i dont get is. Umarpani hasnt been officially sighted and skirmishes between him and Kf were strictly over space and not to finish off one another. (rivalry dates back to 2014-2016 ) also i heard CM was spotted in a healthy condition? i take it that it may take up to a week to determine who the other tiger is because he would be wounded and might need assisstance. could it be a new male? please keep us updated @Vijay Rajan
The killer of kingfisher is still unknown....
Vijay just said that uma has been spotted and camera trapped, he suffers from no wounds or scars that would show him to have been in a fight recently but that doesn't necessarily mean that he isn't the culprit. He did say that after munna killed Konda, he also had very little bruises and no marks on his body. (10-31-2016, 07:19 PM)Pckts Wrote: The killer of kingfisher is still unknown.... Thank you Pckts. As camera trap images are side-on shots more often than not, it still isn't clear if Uma Male has any injuries on his face though. The entire Minkur area (which'd remained closed ever since the season started, due to the poor condition of roads) is about to be opened for tourists within a day or two. It's only a matter of time before Uma Male shows up. Meanwhile, Chota Munna was sighted by the patrolling staff on 29th Oct, barely a few hundred yards from where the carcass of KF was found the previous day. It's confirmed that Chota Munna's nostrils are torn up a bit. It also seems that the Veterinarian assessed it to be a minor injury & hence medical aid wasn't required.
The plot thickens...
Now it's possibly CM, I do want to see uma full body shots, but we may never know.
Tiger 'kingfisher' dies in Kanha Tiger Reserve; toll reaches 23
PTI | Oct 29, 2016, 05.19 PM IST BHOPAL: A tiger, popularly known as 'Kingfisher', was found dead in core area of Kanha Tiger Reserve, taking the death toll of big cats in Madhya Pradesh in the last 10 months to 23, KTR officials said on Saturday. Twenty-two deaths of tigers, three due to poisoning in the core area of Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) on March 28, one each due to electrocution in the wild of Chhindwara and Kanha Tiger Reserve were reported on January 22 and October 22 respectively, have been reported by National Tiger Conservation Authority's (NTCA) website. Friday's death at the Reserve is yet to be reported by the NTCA. This is second of death of tiger at the Kanha Tiger Reserve in the last one week. One death was reported there on October 22. "The tiger, aged around 6, was found dead in the Mukki range in core area of the park yesterday. The postmortem report of the striped animal revealed that it died due to infighting over territory with another big cat," KTR field director Sanjay Shukla told PTI. "We have recently arrested poachers who killed the tiger which was found dead on October 22," he added. A maximum number of nine tigers have died in the Kanha Tiger Reserve followed by eight in Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in last 10 months in the state. Shukla contended that majority of tigers in the Kanha Tiger Reserve have died due to natural deaths. The first tiger death was reported from Pench Tiger Reserve's buffer zone on January 2 this year. |
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