I've just returned from a very early morning foray to a village where a goat was taken. Yes, it does look like a leopard was responsible. I'll quickly have some breakfast and then leg it to another area of recent leopard activity, well, the word is "a tiger lives here" because as I've explained before, in Nepal the word tiger means many things.
The loss of the goat meant a lot to the people I spoke to this morning. Already they have two family members who have taken jobs in gulf states since the earthquakes. Remittance form itinerant workers is a huge part of the Nepal economy, broken families for cash... in a family orientated society. This family here in the Kaski will get money sent to get another goat, about a months saving for the construction workers in Qatar. They are worried the leopard will strike again and of course the fear for human life, particularly children is always there.
The image here is the one I used with a cropped version for my new profile picture on Facebook. The determined look on Asa's face was one of "stay away from my food" as I had just tracked him to a place where he had made a recent kill. Leopards like all wild carnivores are single minded and ruthless when it comes to food. The image will be available on the subscription page at Mountaintiger Photography soon. It's now on a year since the big cat and I permanently separated as part of his rewilding after increasing number of days spent apart. It was a gradual but also dynamic process, if that makes sense.
The recent publicity regarding leopards losing seventy five percent of their historical range globally has been handled in an odd way, it's as if it's a surprise. Incredibly there are many people saying "oh, we didn't realize they were in so much trouble"... well it's not a surprise at all to those working at ground level regarding these animals. However it easy to understand why the issues regarding leopards don't get the same emphasis as their rock star cousins, species like tiger and snow leopard. The leopard is a secretive, hard to study cat, not a tourist species and not viewed as a god like creature like the two I've mentioned. The other thing is that there are so many problems in a country like Nepal it's easy to brush issues like the conflict with leopards under the carpet despite the losses of human life and livestock and the burgeoning leopard skin (and bone) trade.
The rewilding program is part of a future proofing process as leopard numbers fluctuate thus affecting ecosystems but the study of leopard behaviour as these cats adapt to increasing natural habitat loss is crucial to ensure better outcomes for all parties involved, that is, leopards, livestock and people.
