Snow leopard Panthera uncia predation on livestock and wild prey in a mountain valley in northern Nepal: implications for conservation management

Abstract

The globally endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia is sparsely distributed throughout the rugged mountains in Asia. Its habit of preying on livestock poses a main challenge to management. In the remote Phu valley in northern Nepal, we obtained reliable information on livestock losses and estimated predator abundance and diet composition from DNA analysis and prey remains in scats. The annual diet consisted of 42% livestock. Among the wild prey, bharal (blue sheep/naur) Pseudois nayaur was by far the most common species (92%). Two independent abundance estimates suggested that there were six snow leopards in the valley during the course of our study. On average, each snow leopard killed about one livestock individual and two bharal per month. Predation loss of livestock estimated from prey remains in scats was 3.9%, which was in concordance with village records (4.0%). From a total count of bharal, the only large natural prey in the area and occurring at a density of 8.4 animals/km2 or about half the density of livestock, snow leopards were estimated to harvest 15.1% of the population annually. This predation rate approaches the natural, inherent recruitment rate of this species; in Phu the proportion of kids was estimated at 18.4%. High livestock losses have created a hostile attitude against the snow leopard and mitigation measures are needed. Among innovative management schemes now being implemented throughout the species' range, compensation and insurance programmes coupled with other incentive measures are encouraged, rather than measures to reduce the snow leopard's access to livestock. In areas like the Phu valley, where the natural prey base consists mainly of one ungulate species that is already heavily preyed upon, the latter approach, if implemented, will lead to increased predation on this prey, which over time may suppress numbers of both prey and predator.

Abundance of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and its wild prey in Chhekampar VDC, Manaslu Conservation Area, Nepal

“…The grassland and shrub land are almost equally used by the snow leopard because of the availability of prey species in these habitat types. Because of the habitat destruction and other anthropogenic activities, snow leopards are at high risk (Wegge et al, 2012;Devkota et al, 2013), so knowing how these factors influence habitat use is critical to the conservation of snow leopard (Wolf and Ale, 2009). The density of blue sheep (3.8 animals/km 2 ) in the study area as compared to other regions of Nepal, is higher than in the SPNP (2.27 animal/km 2 ; Devkota et al, 2013) and upper region of Mustang district (0.86 animal/km 2 ; Aryal et al, 2014).…”

“…Throughout the Himalayan range, because of livestock depredation, the snow leopard enters into conflict, and this intensity is inversely proportional to availability of wild prey species , and is one of the main challenges for snow leopard conservation (Jackson et al, 2010). The snow leopard feed on large range of natural prey, but it prefers the larger ungulates because of the net energy gain per unit effort expended (Wegge et al, 2012). Thus, blue sheep (Pseudois nayar) and Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus) are considered to be important primary prey species for snow leopards in Nepal and elsewhere in the Himalayan region (Oli, 1994).…”

“…Previous studies (Oli, 1994;Ale et al, 2007;Upadhyaya, 2010;Wegge et al, 2012;Devkota et al, 2013) have attempted to address issues on snow leopard conservation in other protected areas of Nepal. However, no studies have been conducted in the Manaslu Conservation Area, especially in the Chhekampar Village Development Committee (VDC) within the Tsum Valley so far to explore status of snow leopard and its prey species updating existing knowledge for its wise conservation.…”

“…Unfortunately snow leopards are declining throughout their range due to various threats including habitat and prey loss and persecution (Nowel and Jackson, 1996). The Himalayan region continues to experience problems of illegal hunting, humanwildlife conflicts, and habitat degradation and fragmentation (Wegge et al, 2012;Devkota et al, 2013). Knowledge of snow leopard prey species is essential to understand the ecology of this predator, and thereby, provide better conservation options of this endangered species.…”

“…However, no studies have been conducted in the Manaslu Conservation Area, especially in the Chhekampar Village Development Committee (VDC) within the Tsum Valley so far to explore status of snow leopard and its prey species updating existing knowledge for its wise conservation. To implement appropriate strategies of snow leopard conservation, the impact of snow leopard predation on its natural prey and livestock is required (Wegge et al, 2012), and this requires the knowledge on availability of natural prey and livestock depredation beforehand. Therefore, this study explores the abundance of snow leopard, its prey species, and people's perceptions on snow leopard in the Chhekampur VDC within the Tsum Valley of the MCA, fulfilling the existing gap in this important but unexplored area.…”