https://www.facebook.com/RudiHulshof
Now that my contribution to the banner is off, I thought I would post an image of the female leopard having a drink. This was taken in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, when a male and female leopard came to a small pan to drink after a bout of mating. I used a spotlight to capture the images. It was quite a mission choosing to either snap away at the male or the female, or both. This was the result of photographing the female as she lapped at the water.
Web: www.big5africansafari.com
FB Page: Rudi Hulshof Photography
MOSCOW, April 1 – RAPSI. Fines killing tigers, leopards, snow leopards and northern falcons have been raised to 1.1 million rubles ($35,390), the Natural Resources Ministry reported on Monday, citing the new norms for calculating environmental damages that became effective on March 31.
According to the ministry’s order, the basic norm for calculating the damages done to the Amur tiger and leopard population has increased from 500,000 to 1.1 million rubles and from 300,000 to 1.1 million rubles for the snow leopard, the ministry reported in a statement. Meanwhile, fines for killing rare birds of prey have increased from 250,000 to 1.1 million rubles for the northern falcon and to 600,000 rubles for the saker and peregrine falcons.
Fines have also been raised for killing endangered species, such as the golden eagle, Russia‘s three populations of the Polar bear, the European bison – the Belovezhskaya Pushcha population and hybrid intraspecific populations, the black-tailed gazelle (dzeren), the goat antelope, the bezoar goat, the Altai argali, and snow leopard subpopulations.
The ministry also reported that the increased fines will complement the criminal and administrative punishment stipulated by law.
The State Duma is presently examining a bill on exclusive criminal responsibility for the illegal killing, storage, transportation and sale of the Amur tiger, leopard and other rare and endangered species protected by Russia’s Red Data Book and international treaties.
http://www.facebook.com/pantheracats
Next Tues 1/22 @ 8pm, Panthera’s Snow Leopard Program Exec. Director, Dr. Tom McCarthy, will be interviewed on Extreme Wildlife Radio – an online, Texas-based radio program that highlights the state of some of the world’s most endangered species. Listen to Dr. McCarthy’s interview to learn about the current state, threats & conservation status of the elusive snow leopard. More details @ http://bit.ly/UASCIf
http://www.facebook.com/pantheracats
‘Tis the season for snow leopards! Watch Panthera‘s precious new video from the field of snow leopard cubs licking icicles, climbing a rock & playing in Tajikistan‘s Pamir Mountains! Along with the ‘awww’ factor, we’re thrilled to share that this video potentially indicates that a healthy, breeding snow leopard population exists in this region of Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains! Read the full story-http://bit.ly/VmE90m
Press Trust of India / Dehradun December 05, 2012, 19:05
http://www.business – standard.com
A suspected poacher was arrested today by the special task force for being found in possession of the skin of highly-endangered snow leopard, estimated to be over Rs 50 lakh in street market.
The accused Ravindra Singh Bhandari has been booked under the Wild Life Protection Act, said SSP (in charge) of STF Senthil A Krishnaraj.
Bhandari was arrested from his Gangotri Vihar home late last night, Krishnaraj said, adding that the accused was going to smuggle the big cat‘s skin and tail to Delhi.
The snow leopard comes under the highly-endangered category and only 500 of them are left all over India, he said adding that the skin recovered from Bhandari’s possession is estimated to be over Rs 50 lakh in street market.
You’re not a snow leopard, so you might need a beautiful warm hat for the coming cold days. Why not get one that helps save snow leopards? Where? Here! http://ow.ly/fgzkR
http://www.eia.international.org
October 23, 2012
LONDON: With the2nd Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation in Bhutan preparing to discuss the plight of snow leopards today (October 23), the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has warned that it and Asia’s other big cats are in danger of being forgotten.
“The tiger is very much a symbol of the rampant demand and trade threatening the survival of other Asian big cats,” said Debbie Banks, Head of EIA’s Tiger Campaign. “But we know that for every tiger taken, about six leopards are being killed.”
The Conference is being held under the auspices of the Global Tiger Initiative in the mountain Kingdom of Bhutan; it opened on Sunday and runs until Wednesday.
With the key focus on wild tigers, EIA is concerned that leopards are not getting proper consideration, even as they continue to be hammered by poachers.
EIA has produced Briefing on Snow Leopards in Illegal Trade – Asia’s Forgotten Cats for Conference delegates.
Recent analysis shows that since 2000, at least 4,000 Asian big cat skins have entered into the trans-Himalayan trade, with evidence suggesting the majority are destined for China. Nearly 3,400 were leopard skins.
In addition to the seizures, EIA’s undercover investigators have documented the sale of skins and other body parts of hundreds more Asian big cats throughout western and central China.
Snow leopards are under serious threat, with a global population estimated to be fewer than 6,000. EIA’s new briefing reveals investigators have recorded 100 snow leopard skins in China since 2005, and reports a further 151 seized across the animals’ range.
“The skins seized and those uncovered by our investigators are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Banks. “Many more are getting through.”
Tiger, leopard and snow leopard skins are in demand in China for use in taxidermy, luxury home décor and clothing, with a secondary market in their bones for medicinal uses.
Asian big cat Range States (countries in which these animals are naturally found) are required to report to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) on the status of the illegal trade in these species and efforts to prevent it. To date no country has reported on the status of the snow leopard, and only two have reported on the leopard.
“Tigers remain at serious risk because of demand,” added Banks. “So too do the other Asian big cats. At the very least, leopard and snow leopard Range States need to be reporting what actions they are taking to protect these wonderful animals from the illegal trade in their body parts and derivatives.”
EIA’s Briefing on Snow Leopards in Illegal Trade – Asia’s Forgotten Cats is here.
Interviews are available on request: please contact Debbie Banks via debbiebanks@eia-international.org or telephone 020 7354 7960.
EDITORS’ NOTES
1. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is a UK-based Non Governmental Organisation and charitable trust (registered charity number 1145359) that investigates and campaigns against a wide range of environmental crimes, including illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging, hazardous waste, and trade in climate and ozone-altering chemicals.
2. The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) prohibits international trade in specimens of Appendix I Asian big cats – tiger, leopard, snow leopard, clouded leopard and Asiatic lion.
3. Trans-Himalayan trade is specifically trade between India, Nepal and China.
4. A Customs general rule is that seized contraband represents 10 per cent of the volume of contraband moving.
5. The Global Tiger Recovery Programme is coordinated by the Global Tiger Initiative, administered by the World Bank; website at http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/
Environmental Investigation Agency
62-63 Upper Street
London N1 0NY
UK
www.eia-international.org
Tel: +44 207 354 7960
Christine Dell’Amore
Published October 9, 2012
news.nationalgeographic.com
The snow leopard in Pakistan is an endangered species. The population of the rarely seen big cat has likely fallen to fewer than 450 in the country, mainly due to hunting. Now an expert has come up with an unconventional—and controversial—proposal to save the snow leopard: Classify it as a domesticated animal.
That doesn’t mean that snow leopards are literally tame, like a chicken, explained Shafqat Hussain, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer who spoke during the National Geographic Explorers Symposium in Washington, D.C., in June: “When I say that snow leopards are like domestic cats, I mean it rhetorically to make contrast with the word wild.” (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)
His idea stems from the changing relationship between snow leopards and humans. Where the cats do remain in the Himalaya, they increasingly share their habitat with mountain herders. A 2010 study of snow leopard scat found that up to 70 percent of the species’ diet in the Gilgit Baltistan Province (map) comes from sheep, cattle, and other domestic animals. Some herders have killed snow leopards in retaliation for preying on their livestock. (See pictures and video of snow leopards in Afghanistan.)
Given the snow leopards’ diet, “how do we see these mythical, elusive wild animals? Are they really wild in the sense that of meaning we attach to the word wild—existing on its own, having no connection with society and domestic economy?” Hussain said.
“Clearly not.”
Supporting Locals
So the way to enable snow leopards to survive, says Hussain, is not to create protected areas that sequester them from local communities. That solution often alienates farmers, who lose their grazing areas as a result. He would suggest supporting local herders instead so they can make a living despite snow leopard incursions. (See snow leopard pictures in National Geographic magazine.)
And that’s exactly what he’s been doing for more than a decade. In 1999 Hussain founded the Snow Leopard Project, an insurance scheme that compensates local people in snow leopard-range countries if their livestock are killed by the predators.
Various branches of the successful project, which is jointly managed by project officials and a committee of villagers, have spread to 400 households covering 3,000 animals across central Asia.
Since 1998, close to U.S. $7,000 has been paid out in compensation for lost animals, and $13,000 invested on improving livestock corrals and other infrastructure. Meanwhile, the snow leopard population seems to have remained stable, if not grown, Hussain said.
Snow Leopard Perspective Controversial
Not everyone agrees. In fact, there is great consternation in the big-cat conservation community about Hussain’s ideas, particularly that conservation groups don’t work with locals. (Learn about National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative.)
Tom McCarthy, executive director of the Snow Leopard Program for the big-cat conservation group Panthera, said that he doesn’t “know a single conservation [nongovernmental organization] working on snow leopards today that would support setting up reserves for the cats at the expense of local people.”
For example, before Hussain set up the Snow Leopard Project, McCarthy and colleagues founded the award-winning Snow Leopard Enterprises, which helps local people in snow leopard countries generate income.
Conservation biologist and snow leopard expert Jerry Roe also said by email that relabeling the snow leopard as domestic will not resolve the conflict between snow leopards and herders or benefit the species.
For one, “a change of definition will not alter the perspective of snow leopards as a pest species in the eyes of herders,” said Roe, co-founder of California-based Nomad Ecology, an ecological consulting and research company.
Living With Snow Leopards
Hussain thinks the objections are just not valid. Local people—at least in Pakistan—do not have an “atavistic enmity to snow leopards, [nor] this itch to kill it,” he said. “If they get compensated for their losses, they have no interest in eliminating this animal.”
Such is the case with Mohammed Ibrahim, chairman of Skoyo Krabathang Basingo Conservation and Development Organization in Krabathang, Pakistan (map), who also owns 15 goats. In a phone interview with an Urdu interpreter, Ibrahim said that he’s not worried about snow leopards, mostly because of insurance schemes such as Project Snow Leopard that compensate herders for lost animals.
And since snow leopards have never been known to attack people, Hussain is confident that his scheme would work far better than a conservation policy that separates the leopards from the locals: “The idea of co-existing with snow leopards is easy to implement if you satisfy the villagers.”
Ultimately, conservationists share the same goal: Ensuring that the snow leopard—what Hussain calls a “symbol of the high mountains”—can survive. Whether that will continue to be an animal dependent on people for food, though, is still up in the air.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ROARrrrr-for-Jungle-Tiger/166490116742359
Scientists have outfitted two snow leopardsin a wild corner of Afghanistan with satellite-tracking collars, a first for the country and a boon for researchers trying to better understand the
The snow leopards, both male, were captured in Afghanistan’s northeastern Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of desolate, windswept mountains sandwiched between Pakistan and Tajikistan, and a spot where camera traps first snapped the elusive cats in 2011.
The first snow leopard was captured and released on May 27, the second on June 8.
Researchers weighed and measured the animals, took DNA samples and fitted them with satellite collars before sending them on their way.
In the intervening weeks, the first cat has traveled more than 78 miles (125 kilometers) and the second cat has traveled more than 95 miles (153 km), according to a statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society, one of the main participants in the field work.
Snow leopards make their homes in the harsh, rugged mountain regions of 12 Asian nations, yet despite their wide range and impressive survival skills, the spotted cats’ numbers are dwindling. The species has declined by as much as 20 percent in the last 16 years, and only 3,000 to 7,500 individuals remain in the wild, according to population estimates.
Officials with the WCS lauded the recent capture and tracking of the Afghan snow leopards as a milestone in the fight to save the big cats.
The endangered Snow leopard is a semi-large cat living in the snowy mountains of Central Asia.
About SNOW LEOPARDS :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Leopard
The total mature breeding population is less than 2,500.
◄█►►►Bones from the endangered Snow leopard is used in traditional Chinese medicine.
When bones from the like ways endangered Tiger grew harder to obtain, bones from the Snow leopard became popular as a substitute which placed an even harder strain on the already diminished Snow leopard population.
◄█►►►The endangered Snow leopard is hunted to provide bones for the regional markets as well as for international trade !!
We ask the Chinese government to support alternative medicines that do not include the use of endangered animals.
◄█►►►
Pls sign here : http://www.thepetitionsite.com/494/467/324/stop-using-endangered-snow-leopards-in-chinese-medicine/
◄█►►►Winning a campaign is now in your hands.
For all petitions ,
We need to reach out to as many friends as we can to grow this campaign and win.
So PLEASE share on your wall , tag your friends , spread facebook / twitter ect … the most you can
Like” and “Share” this image
Thank you
Isabella
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Isabellas-Vegan-page/83552172515
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Leopard
It has been included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species since 1972, and has been placed in Appendix I in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
The total mature breeding population is less than 2,500.
◄█►►►Bones from the endangered Snow leopard is used in traditional Chinese medicine.
When bones from the like ways endangered Tiger grew harder to obtain, bones from the Snow leopard became popular as a substitute which placed an even harder strain on the already diminished Snow leopard population.
◄█►►►The endangered Snow leopard is hunted to provide bones for the regional markets as well as for international trade !!
We ask the Chinese government to support alternative medicines that do not include the use of endangered animals.
◄█►►►
Pls sign here : http://www.thepetitionsite.com/494/467/324/stop-using-endangered-snow-leopards-in-chinese-medicine/
◄█►►►Winning a campaign is now in your hands.
For all petitions ,
We need to reach out to as many friends as we can to grow this campaign and win.
So PLEASE share on your wall , tag your friends , spread facebook / twitter ect … the most you can
Like" and "Share" this image
Thank you
Isabellahttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Isabellas-Vegan-page/83552172515″ width=”403″ height=”403″ />
