Monday, December 22, 2014

More camera trap images of Asa... UNESCO and a sanctuary for wildlife...






There’ll be more about the non-ganja influenced tiger sighting I was told about soon and thanks for the concern re my health in the previous post, don’t worry, I am very conscious of my proximity to Asa, there’s usually no problem except at feeding time and just sometimes I get close to observe and photograph because the zoom is interrupted by foliage etc.  Camera traps are such an important part of these projects, here’s just a few images from the last three days.  Setting them in the right places as well as making sure they are configured properly is labour intensive, not to mention the analysis of hundreds of images, something I’ll be doing during my down day today.

As you can see, Asa is in great condition.  I’ve mentioned before that I know every meeting could be the last and to be honest that is as much because of the threats to him as is full separation.  In saying that, at now about a year old Asa is showing great survival skills up there and in age is over a major hump.  The fact he has claimed the territory he is in speaks volumes.  Little is still known about the female leopard in the area, these things take time.

Territory is key for many reasons, I’ll elaborate on this soon but essentially my long term vision that part of the valley leading to the high peaks gets UNESCO status also means that it becomes a more effective wildlife sanctuary.  This is easier said than done, there are many issues and complexities.  The criteria is strict as it should be and sadly a lot of the obstacles are internationally driven, through stupidity.  There’s going to be some decent serves in my book, mark my words, some foreigners with really no conservation background pushing projects for gains of ego and dollars.  This will be stopped here and the model implemented beyond.  I am bloody determined about this.

At a local level there is a growing understanding as education improves.  A Nepalese friend last year described the country as a victim of kindness and this is true to an extent.  It is easy to hold out one’s hand, it is better to get that hand working and reap the rewards.  An attitude change is needed, corruption needs to be stamped on hard but these things are happening.  Last night a  long message conservation with an anti-poaching veteran, a hard but fair man, left us both optimistic... but that’s another chapter, hey I can’t tell you everything here, I’ve got bloody work to do!  The most important thing is that there are some excellent conservationists here, they just need to be resourced.  They are well aware of the mistakes the West has made and that some of the intact habitat here offers the last chance for many species, particularly mountain biodiversity.

This is a cause well worth fighting for, worth climbing steep slopes for, worth trekking hundreds of kilometres for...


Thanks for the support, hopefully a blog around Christmas time but be rest assured the young leopard is playing his part in making things happen.  Asa means “Hope”... yes, that’s true and hope leading to action means conservation success.  Cheers Jack.

Now blogging at wildleopard.net - thanks for your support!

Many thanks to those who have been following this blog as well as prior to that The Asa Diaries and TigerTrek.  I'm now blogging a...