Much to the delight of the wildlife lovers, an elusive snow leopard has been sighted, for the first time, in the high altitude region of Arunachal Pradesh. The species was captured in a camera during a State-wide survey carried out by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) India in collaboration with the State’s forest department from March 2017 onward. The snow leopard was photographed by a camera trap set up at Thembang, one of the communities that conserved areas in the State.
“This perhaps is the first time that the presence of snow leopard has been reported through a camera trap photograph from our State. The findings of this survey will help in developing conservation plans for the iconic species of the region, primarily snow leopards, and step up our conservation efforts,” said Omkar Singh, PCCF and Principal Secretary, Department of Environment and Forest, Arunachal Pradesh.
The evidence is significant given the fact that large natural areas in the Northeastern State fall under the custodianship of local communities whose support is crucial to protect the species and its habitat. Recent studies on snow leopards yielded evidence of the presence of the elusive species in the Northeastern State, resplendent with biodiversity and yet largely unexplored.
The snow leopard conservation plan will address increasing threats such as retaliatory killings, infrastructure development and climate change induced impacts on the habitats.
Only a fraction of snow leopard habitat in the State falls into two protected areas i.e. Dibang Biosphere Reserve and Namdapha National Park. The presence of the big cat beyond these protected areas highlights the importance of community support for conservation as well as landscape scale conservation planning.
The survey is built on the knowledge of the community members to understand the current distribution of snow leopards and other large mammals. “Researchers, including trained local youth, interviewed herders and former hunters who provided detailed information on snow leopards across the State as well as its prey species,” said Rishi Kumar Sharma, senior coordinator, Species and landscapes Programme, WWF-India.
Over 80 per cent of the interviewees confirmed the presence of snow leopards in their area, an encouraging sign for the State. The research team also deployed camera traps in select areas to document the species and obtained a photograph of a snow leopard in the Community Conserved Area.
The State-wide survey conducted by WWF-India in Arunachal Pradesh is significant as it covers one of the 22 priority landscapes of the Global Snow leopard Ecosystem Protection Programme (GSlEP).
Sharma said that the survey has enhanced knowledge on the distribution of snow leopards and its prey species for the entire State which will be of immense help in the better conservation-management of the species.
Speaking about the decade-long conservation effort through community conservation in the State, Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO, WWF-India said, “Scientific information on the distribution of snow leopards generated through this State wide survey is an encouraging sign for WWF-India and the State Forest Department.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which monitors the conservation status of wildlife, had a few months back put the snow leopard under vulnerable category from the endangered status in its Red list of Threatened Species.
The snow leopard, rarely seen in the wild, lives across 12 countries in Central Asia including India, and its numbers, according to the IUCN, are estimated to be between 7,367 and 7,884 individuals.
