Carnivore conservation depends on the sociopolitical landscape as much as the biological landscape. Changing political attitudes and views of nature have shifted the goals of carnivore management from those based on fear and narrow economic interests to those based on a better understanding of ecosystem function and adaptive management. In parallel, aesthetic and scientific arguments against lethal control techniques are encouraging the development of nonlethal approaches to carnivore management. We anticipate greater success in modifying the manner and frequency with which the activities of humans and domestic animals intersect with those of carnivores. Success should permit carnivore populations to persist for decades despite human population growth and modification of habitat.

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Human-Carnivore Conflict and Perspectives on Carnivore Management Worldwide

Mammal inventories in tropical forests are often difficult to carry out, and many elusive species are missed or only reported from interviews with local people. Camera traps offer a new tool for conducting inventories of large- and medium-sized terrestrial mammals. We evaluated the efficiency of camera traps based on data from two surveys carried out at a single site during 2 consecutive years. The survey efforts were 1440 and 2340 camera days, and 75 and 86% of the 28 large- and medium-sized terrestrial mammal species known to occur at the site were recorded. Capture frequencies for different species were highly correlated between the surveys, and the capture probability for animals that passed in front of the cameras decreased with decreasing size of the species. Camera spacing and total survey area had little influence on the number of species recorded, with survey effort being the main factor determining the number of recorded species. Using a model we demonstrated the exponential increase in survey effort required to record the most elusive species. We evaluated the performance of different species richness estimators on this dataset and found the Jackknife estimators generally to perform best. We give recommendations on how to increase efficiency of camera trap surveys exclusively targeted at species inventories.

https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2008.00169.x

An evaluation of camera traps for inventorying large‐ and medium‐sized terrestrial rainforest mammals

Conflict between people and felids is one of the most urgent wild cat conservation issues worldwide, yet efforts to synthesize knowledge about these conflicts have been few. For management strategies to be effective a thorough understanding of the dynamics of human-felid conflicts is necessary. Here we present the results of a cross-species, systematic review of human-felid conflicts worldwide. Using a combination of literature review and geographical information system analyses, we provide a quantitative as well as qualitative assessment of patterns and determinants that are known to influence the severity of human-felid conflicts, and a geographical overview of the occurrence of conflict worldwide. We found evidence of conflict affecting over 75% of the world's felid species. The severity of conflict increases with felid body mass and is of greatest conservation significance to nine species: caracal, cheetah, Eurasian lynx, jaguar, leopard, lion, puma, snow leopard and tiger. We also reveal specific gaps in knowledge about human-felid conflicts, and required actions within this aspect of felid conservation. With only 31% of implemented management strategies having been evaluated scientifically, there is a need for greater and more rigorous evaluation and a wider dissemination of results. Also urgently required are standardized reporting techniques to reduce the current disparity in conflict reporting methods and facilitate resolution of patterns and trends in the scale of human-felid conflict worldwide. This review provides a basis both for further synthesis and for the coordination of human-felid conflict management among researchers, practitioners and organizations.

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Human-felid conflict: a review of patterns and priorities worldwide.

Statistical Inference from Capture Data on Closed Animal Populations

Conservationists recognize the need to work beyond protected areas if they are to sustain viable populations of wildlife. But ambitious plans to extend wildlife corridors beyond protected areas mus...

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Co-Managing Human–Wildlife Conflicts: A Review

Conservation and management of snow leopards (Uncia uncia) has largely relied on anecdotal evidence and presence–absence data due to their cryptic nature and the difficult terrain they inhabit. These methods generally lack the scientific rigor necessary to accurately estimate population size and monitor trends. We evaluated the use of photography in capture–mark–recapture (CMR) techniques for estimating snow leopard population abundance and density within Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India. We placed infrared camera traps along actively used travel paths, scent-sprayed rocks, and scrape sites within 16- to 30-km2 sampling grids in successive winters during January and March 2003–2004. We used head-on, oblique, and side-view camera configurations to obtain snow leopard photographs at varying body orientations. We calculated snow leopard abundance estimates using the program CAPTURE. We obtained a total of 66 and 49 snow leopard captures resulting in 8.91 and 5.63 individuals per 100 trap-nights du...

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Estimating Snow Leopard Population Abundance Using Photography and Capture–Recapture Techniques

Livestock depredation by the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is an increasingly contentious issue in Himalayan villages, especially in or near protected areas. Mass attacks in which as many as 100 sheep and goats are killed in a single incident inevitably result in retaliation by local villagers. This article describes a community-based conservation initiative to address this problem in Hemis National Park, India. Human–wildlife conflict is alleviated by predator-proofing villagers’ nighttime livestock pens and by enhancing household incomes in environmentally sensitive and culturally compatible ways. The authors have found that the highly participatory strategy described here (Appreciative Participatory Planning and Action—APPA) leads to a sense of project ownership by local stakeholders, communal empowerment, self-reliance, and willingness to co-exist with snow leopards. The most significant conservation outcome of this process is the protection from retaliatory poaching of up to five snow leop...

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A Community-Based Approach to Mitigating Livestock Depredation by Snow Leopards

Livestock depredation has become a significant problem across the snow leopard's (Panthera uncia) range in Central Asia, being most severe in and near protected areas. Such predation, especially incidents of "surplus killing," in which five to 100 or more sheep and goats are lost in a single night, almost inevitably leads herders to retaliate by killing rare or endangered carnivores like snow leopard, wolf, and lynx. Ironically, such loss can be avoided by making the night-time enclosures predator-proof, improving animal husbandry techniques, educating herders on wildlife conservation and the importance of protecting the natural prey base, and by providing economic incentives like handicrafts skills training and marketing, along with carefully planned ecotourism trekking and guiding. The author explores innovative conservation initiatives in the Himalaya (Ladakh and Tibet) and Mongolia, which also build local capacity, self-reliance, and stewardship for nature using Appreciative Participatory Planning and Action, or APPA, techniques. The most sound conservation investments are those contingent upon establishing direct linkages with biodiversity protection, ensuring co-financing and reciprocal responsibility for project activities, encouraging the full participation of all stakeholders, and assuring regular monitoring and evaluation of the village-based agreements (embodied in Action Plans).

Linking Snow Leopard Conservation and People-Wildlife Conflict Resolution: Grassroots Measures to Protect the Endangered Snow Leopard from Herder Retribution

An emerging conflict with Trans-Himalayan pastoral communities in Ladakh’s Changthang Plateau threatens the conservation prospects of the kiang (Equus kiang) in India. It is locally believed that Changthang’s rangelands are overstocked with kiang, resulting in forage competition with livestock. Here, we provide a review and preliminary data on the causes of this conflict. Erosion of people’s tolerance of the kiang can be attributed to factors such as the loss of traditional pastures during an Indo-Chinese war fought in 1962, immigration of refugees from Tibet, doubling of the livestock population in about 20 years, and increasing commercialization of cashmere (pashmina) production. The perception of kiang overstocking appears misplaced, because our range-wide density estimate of 0.24 kiang km−2 (± 0.44, 95% CL) is comparable to kiang densities reported from Tibet. A catastrophic decline during the war and subsequent recovery of the kiang population apparently led to the overstocking perception in Ladakh. In the Hanle Valley, an important area for the kiang, its density was higher (0.56 km−2) although even here, we estimated the total forage consumed by kiang to be only 3–4% compared to 96–97% consumed by the large livestock population (78 km−2). Our analysis nevertheless suggests that at a localized scale, some herders do face serious forage competition from kiang in key areas such as moist sedge meadows, and thus management strategies also need to be devised at this scale. In-depth socioeconomic surveys are needed to understand the full extent of the conflicts, and herder-centered participatory resolution needs to be facilitated to ensure that a sustainable solution for livelihoods and kiang conservation is achieved.

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Perceived Conflicts Between Pastoralism and Conservation of the Kiang Equus kiang in the Ladakh Trans-Himalaya, India

The Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata is endemic to the Tibetan plateau. In the Ladakh region of northern India its range declined from c. 20,000 km2 in the early 1900s to c. 1,000 km2 in the late 1980s. Here we report the results of our recent (1999?2003) assessments of the gazelle?s conservation status in Ladakh. Rangewide surveys indicate that the present population of the Tibetan gazelle in Ladakh is c. 50, restricted to a range of c. 100 km2. Populations in the Tso Kar basin and Dungti have gone extinct within the past decade. Throughout the last century hunting was the primary cause of the gazelle?s decline. Although hunting has been brought under control in the last two decades, intensified livestock grazing appears to have prevented the gazelle?s recovery and may be precipitating further declines. The species needs immediate, participatory conservation management, as well as a reassessment of its IUCN Red List status.

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Rinchen Wangchuk

Papers

Estimating Snow Leopard Population Abundance Using Photography and Capture–Recapture Techniques

A Community-Based Approach to Mitigating Livestock Depredation by Snow Leopards

Linking Snow Leopard Conservation and People-Wildlife Conflict Resolution: Grassroots Measures to Protect the Endangered Snow Leopard from Herder Retribution

Perceived Conflicts Between Pastoralism and Conservation of the Kiang Equus kiang in the Ladakh Trans-Himalaya, India

Decline of the Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata in Ladakh, India