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Sometimes when working in the rain I do have little fantasies about things like hot water which runs out of taps and maybe a machine which washes clothes so I don't have to do it in a bucket. Then I remember what a colleague in Africa wrote to me recently about more conservation funding being spent on airfares than is hitting the ground. That is a story for another day but it does make me go "shut up Jack, just dig the hole. Leeches are my friend."
Using open top enclosures for leopards in transit is the way forward. The second image is representative, it is an enclosure for Amur leopards in another country and is being tested. Dr Asis Gurung and I have got the open top principle going here in Nepal, it is still evolving but the key is absolutely minimal human contact (except for infant cubs which need a handler) so the leopards can live and learn in an isolated natural way.
The Wildlife Act here now means there is provision to breed certain wildlife and I've shared my vision with a few people that barking deer would be a great species to reintroduce into hill areas, along with predators. Leopard Transit Zones, and I am confident there will be two of them in the country within the next year, are part of this overall thinking so it is much more than just rewilding, it is about other issues such as appraisal and placement of maneaters or other serious conflict leopards and how we can get leopards reintroduced in ecosystems where they are needed
Of course all this needs paying for and with Nepal having a very small protected species list (26) of which the leopard is not included it means there is limited internal priority for the spotted cat. International help is difficult, as I've said many times before and this is to the constant alarm of leopard conservationists, the leopard just does not have the respect and support from most governments, many parts of the conservation sector and the general public.
So as well as digging holes and building enclosures, studying leopard behaviour etc one has to be an entrepreneur and philanthropist. I've sold a lot of photos to make this happen, and there has been steadfast support from a couple of people as well as the research client aspect. "Wild Leopard" honey from Nepal is something that will help this situation as well as ultimately helping leopard projects in other countries because the leopard does not draw the big bucks like tiger, elephant, rhino etc.
While digging holes the text messages keep coming, leopard skin seizures are constant and of course no one knows how many are traded. While the #rehabilitation side of things is the most physical and in some ways the most stressful, the #AntiTrafficking side is never far away, in fact it is always on my mind, there is always plenty to do.
So when the #coexistence side brings a little respite like yesterday when I heard that kids from surrounding villages are saying please bring the "Living with Leopards" program to us, it gives me a bit of a smile, some progress. Of course it means more work but the fact that these kids are showing more interest in leopards than the other parties I have mentioned above, that tells a story in itself about the true importance of this animal...
WildTiger is ten years old this year. In a few days the websites have the content additions finished, timed with three months out from International Day of the Leopard. Selling images has been a huge part of keeping projects rolling, it is like working two jobs... or three or four. The whole ball game has changed in the last few years with photography, now there are millions of images being published every day, lots of huge lens everywhere, image theft, copyrights ignored etc.
So it's time to evolve and "Wild Leopard" Honey is going to be a big part of that, and yeah, that's ok, have to keep this gig going somehow.
This snow leopard image is special to me because of the support I was getting during a really difficult time with my work, there were a couple of people who really believed and well, you know who you are, you are forever in my heart...
