It is quite strange to imagine the harshness and frigidness of the cold Gilgit-Baltistan as a haven for any living being. Yet the treachery of this rugged landscape is tantamount to the viciousness of its top predator; the big cat roams these 80,000 km2 (31,000 square miles) grounds in dwindling numbers of 200-420 in Northern Pakistan.
The elusive snow leopard finds a habitat in the inhospitable Hindu Kush and Karakoram in Pakistan’s northern provinces of KPK, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Kashmir. These panthera uncia have seen their numbers shrink in recent decades to become one of the world’s most endangered animals, almost on the brink of extinction. The threats to this species range from the fur trade, retaliatory killing by herders to loss of their prey due to over herding as well as human encroachment of their habitats.
In September 2017, The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) downlisted the threat level to snow leopard from Endangered to Vulnerable, indicating successful efforts to conserve the wild cats in Pakistan and worldwide. But the threat to their populations is still very much alive; it is important to note that only 2710-3386 remain in the wild and that these evasive felines were once listed as Critically Endangered in Pakistan (in 2003) according to the IUCN Pakistan Red List. These majestic cats have also been listed on Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), making it illegal to transport snow leopard body parts across international boundaries.
Poaching constitutes a major danger to the species in Northern Pakistan. It continues today, untrammeled by any restrictions in some areas, especially for the leopard’s glorious coats but sometimes also for the region’s medicinal trade, and is a growing threat across snow leopard range states. The number of poachers has however decreased as many internationally-funded snow leopard programmes in Pakistan protect these carnivores and multiple government and international donors have helped to restore their numbers.
Despite these substantial investment programs in place, the region has still seen the snow leopard’s population numbers decline. This can also be attributed to the loss of their natural prey in some areas which mostly constitute wild sheep and goats, but also marmots and smaller animals. The population of wild mountain goats has decreased by at least 50%, and nearly half of their ranges have been lost to livestock and farming. Apart from donor funds, what the local communities have found to be extremely lucrative is to sell their annual hunting permits to foreign hunters to hunt wild goats. This trophy hunting program started by the Pakistani government in the 1990s grants awards to communities that abide by the ban on poaching of carnivorous predators, including snow leopards. These hunting permits when sold to foreigners allows them to hunt the prey of snow leopards-wild goats-which are otherwise included in the poaching ban. In the past, these hunting permits have raised up to $700,000-800,000 from the trophy hunting permits. With their prey now being hunted by humans, the snow leopards are left with a smaller number of wild sheep and goats to survive on.
Despite this threat, some solace is found in herders that are regulating their livestock grazing patterns more efficiently which have positively resulted in attracting larger populations of wild goats and in turn more snow leopards – their ultimate predator. And where there are more snow leopards, more hunting permits naturally follow. This pattern has hence proved beneficial for both the herders and the snow leopards.
Other reasons for the decrease in snow leopard’s numbers pertain to general disturbance and habitat loss as an increasing number of people move into snow leopard habitat. This is evidenced by the fact that the human population in Pakistan’s snow leopard range has increased by four times since the partition of India in 1947, with their livestock levels have gone up by 40% to 60%. Snow leopards are known to be incredibly shy and elusive, characterized by their solitary nature. As humans invade their space with their livestock, the snow leopards populations permanently retreat from their habitats in keeping with their demeanor.
But perhaps the most important threat to snow leopard populations comes from what is known as the human-wildlife conflict. The landscapes in which these creatures live constitute pastoral communities where there is a heavy dependence on livestock. With these carnivores protected by law and contract, the presence of these predators naturally raises the herder’s apprehensions. To protect their most prized possession and their only source of nourishment – livestock, farmers indulge in the precautionary murdering of these cats.
Despite receiving significant investment in livelihood and habitat improvement projects, locals remain apprehensive to let the leopards roam freely. As livestock continues to remain central to the region’s economy, a conflict spews between the herders and wild beasts. This inevitably leads to retaliatory killing by shepherds and villagers when the wild cats, unable to find alternative food sources switch to livestock as the only available food source. Even in areas when the snow leopards do not feast on the livestock, they are unfairly blamed for livestock losses and killed as a ‘precautionary’ measure.
Most of the farmers are left in a bind since they also rely on the money which comes from protecting these snow leopards. Yet in the end, the livestock does constitute their very sustenance. This hence represents a serious conflict for local shepherds.
The presence of livestock might actually encourage snow leopards in farmer’s pastured lands as they terrorize livestock corrals, built as enclosures to restrict livestock, to engage in surplus killings on rare occasions.
The Gilgit-Baltistan Wildlife Act of 1975 bans the hunting of snow leopards, but despite such laws in place, farmers of GB and KPK use various methods such as shooting, trapping, and even poisoning a snow leopard-killed carcass. In attempts to salvage what is left of their livestock, these villagers will often refuse to release the wild animals they hold as prisoners. The farmer’s demands of compensation for the damage incurred are at times met by police cases and imprisonment of these aggrieved parties.
It is interesting to note however, that in this same setting these policemen and the wildlife rangers in such remote valleys also serve to stabilize the relations between the local farmer communities and the conservationist groups. As explained below, the reconciliation of the interests of both these groups is important if the conservation of this single predator is to succeed in these regions.
The farmers and conservationists’ relations have been notoriously bitter in the past due to their different explanations for leopard’s low numbers and varying approaches for conservation. Their opinions often clash and sometimes warrant an outside agency such as that of wildlife rangers and police officials to fulfill any hopes for reconciliation.
The conservation NGOs and government agencies have narrowed down three main explanations for the continued the conflict between farmers and snow leopards. These explanations, while true to some extent fail to accommodate the farmer’s point of view. The state officials and conservation institutions maintain that the reason why snow leopards attack a farmers’ domestic livestock is because these farmers have hunted snow leopard’s natural wild prey which are wild goats and sheep such as ibex, markhor and blue sheep. Other reasons include the lack of care by farmers to protect their livestock effectively and the shrinkage and degradation of the leopard’s habitats that have ultimately led the leopards to find sustenance on human grounds.
While these reasons have already been cited to contribute to the dwindling leopard populations, they are not enough in themselves to justify the claims of continued resistance between farmers and the leopards. The decrease in natural prey is not the sole contributor to leopards attacking a farmer’s livestock. Livestock predation has been found to be higher in villages where the natural wild prey of snow leopards is also found abundantly. This explains why there is a high predation rate in villages near national parks which harbor good prey populations. The snow leopard being an opportunistic predator will target any prey that is easier to catch. As a domestic goat can perhaps prove 10 times easier to catch than a mountain goat, the predator will naturally hunt it down.
The claim of farmers being lazy about their livestock is also dubious when one considers the high pastures landscape on open ranges, where the farmers graze their livestock. Protecting livestock from the stealthy nature of the leopard is nearly impossible due to the cover it lends to the predator. Farmers hence reckon the predator’s attacks to be completely random and unpredictable. Despite these challenges, it is the farmers’ vigilance and hard work that allows them to successfully avert most of these attacks.
As far as the snow leopard’s habitat is concerned, claims of its complete fragmentation and degradation are often exaggerated. The real threat to the snow leopard’s habitat is not from the subsistence practices of local farmers; it is largely from the threat of habitat degradation emanating from global changes induced by consumption and production of advanced industrial societies. The habitat of these wild cats holds little appeal for humans as it covers mainly harsh mountainous terrain, with nothing but ice, snow, and rock, reaching unwelcoming altitudes of 10,000 to 20,000 feet. This is the reason that the snow leopard range and habitat in Pakistan and worldwide have not drastically decreased despite high population growth and technological advancements in South and Central Asia.
Many books have been authored that have tried to pen down the behavior patterns of Pakistan’s Snow leopards; these include Dr. George Schaller’s Mountain Monarchs and Stones of Silence and Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard. Apart from literary efforts, many organizations are hard at work to promote conservation of the mighty leopards. Snow Leopard Wildlife Conservation Society Pakistan has been implementing a multi-year program since 1997 in attempts to conserve the last extensive high elevation and conifer forest ecosystems in Gilgit-Baltistan-a natural habitat to both snow leopards and its prey. The program includes “wildlife surveys, community-based education, and institution building for resource management, including the creation of resource committees and community rangers to monitor snow leopards and other wildlife and to stop poaching”.
Started as an insurance scheme for domestic livestock in 1999, the pilot project Project Snow Leopard in northern GB grew to formalize into a non-profit organization called Baltistan Wildlife Conservation and Development Organization (BWCDO) in 2007. The organization which now consists of 15 insurance schemes provides both environmental awareness material and financial help, by transferring small funds from conservation organizations and government agencies to Balti farmers to compensate them for loss of livestock due to the leopard’s killings. They hope that their assistance can help in reducing farmer’s motivations to undertake retaliatory killings. They also build predator-proof corrals for the farmer communities to avert risks of livestock killing by the leopards.
Other organisations involved in similar efforts include WWF Pakistan, Snow Leopard Foundation, Snow Leopard Trust, and USAID. These organizations along with projects like the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) funded snow leopard project, ‘Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme’ (PSLEP) and the 2018’s documentary ‘In Pursuit of Phantom’ by the Pakistan American Culture Center (PACC), have done their share in raising awareness of the wild cat.
The prime objectives of the PSLEP project are to encourage a landscape approach for survival of snow leopard and its prey species by decreasing threats and utilizing sustainable land and forest management in critical habitats in northern Pakistan.
In Pursuit of Phantom, a documentary directed by Abdullah Khan showcases the journey of a nascent wildlife documentarian and veteran conservationist Hussain Ali on his escapades to the unforgiving terrains of Gilgit Baltistan to shadow the movements of the region’s apex predator.
One major reason for the decline in snow leopard populations that often gets underplayed is the lack of awareness of local communities regarding the endangered status of these species. In addition, local governments, not cognizant of the rapid loss of these wild cats, fail to realize the threat they pose by not enforcing improved measures for conservation both in and outside protected areas. It is the need of the hour to distribute basic scientific knowledge to inform management efforts and set up protocols to regularly gather information for basic facts such as accurate population numbers and trends across the range states.
More importantly, a shift of perspective also needs to take place. State organizations and conservation institutions need to realize that snow leopard conservation is not only an ecological necessity, but that it also has political and economic ramifications. More often than not, we find the social sciences voice lost in the narratives of wildlife conservationists as the workforces of state agencies and national and international conservation institutions are mainly comprised of natural scientists, with little training and motivation to explore the social scopes of conservation. The state officials and protection institutions advocate conservation of the snow leopard based on its uniqueness and ecological functions. The implications of the lack of attention to social issues such as economic and psychological cost of conservation to communities can be powerful.
The propelled image of the snow leopard as a ‘wilderness’ predator by these institutions represents a classical western image of the big cat, something which is based on the worship of ‘pristine’ and ‘untamed’ nature. This image is however far from reality, as field research demonstrates that snow leopards are often found near human settlements and, as noted before, sometimes find humans’ livestock as a source of sustenance.
Ecological Studies in other south-eastern habitats have documented the snow leopards-livestock relationship. They have shown that if humans and their livestock are removed from the snow leopard habitat, the ‘natural’ prey of snow leopard and eventually the snow leopard population itself will decline. Acknowledging this link between wild snow leopards and the domesticated economy is hence crucial to any conservation effort; ignoring this link can possibly jeopardize the entire species in the long run.
Lastly, the revised status of this species, from Endangered to Vulnerable by IUCN should not be taken as an indication to halt efforts for the protection of this species. We need to do more and continue to do our part in raising awareness of these majestic creatures. Or else they will face the same fate as so many mythical creatures before them, extinct and found only in the pages of history.
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