90 pc snow leopard poaching occurred in India, four other countries: TRAFFIC

Web India , Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Correspondent :
With the number of snow leopards dwindling each year due to illegal poaching across their range in Asia's high mountains, India along with China, Mongolia, Pakistan and Tajikistan have reported maximum cases of poaching of this endangered and elusive cat.

According to a new report by Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC), over 90 per cent of the reported snow leopard poaching occurred in these range countries.

Range state is a term generally used in zoogeography and conservation biology to refer to any nation that exercises jurisdiction over any part of a range which a particular species, taxon or biotope inhabits, or crosses or overflies at any time on its normal migration route.

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.

The report found that 55 per cent of snow leopards were killed in retaliation for attacks on livestock and 18 per cent by non-targeted methods, such as snares.

Only 21 per cent 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 resulted in opportunistic attempts to sell, contributing to the estimated 108-219 snow leopards that were 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 suggested that demand could be falling perhaps due to increased enforcement.

Rishi Sharma, WWF Snow Leopard Programme leader and co-author of the report said, "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. 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 had called on the 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 per cent were prosecuted.

According to Kristin Nowell, the lead author of the report, "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. 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."UNI RBE RSA AE 1550

 
SOURCE : http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20161024/2976281.html
 


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