This post is also at Facebook (along with other updates and posts not shown at this blog) if you wish to comment.
This morning in the jungle many things were running through my mind including this comment on one of my threads (yesterday on Facebook) from Maya Ramaswamy "wild herbivores are still poached everywhere. what hope do big cats have of raising their young in wild conditions away from human disturbance" ... I'll come to that shortly.
First a big shout out to Ian for getting batteries for the field laptop I'm using in the image and to Johnny for bringing them. Help like this is priceless, thanks so much guys. As the heat and humidity of monsoon nears its end (well I bloody hope so, still a few more weeks I guess), I've got a great deal of field work to get through in the next few months before hopefully actually seeing my family again for the first time in several years. While thanking people, shout outs to Bernd and Shelly who not only deliver gear to Nepal for me but are managing to get many used phones from their home countries of Germany and Australia respectively. Those who have been following these posts will know we are putting these phones to good use in human-wildlife conflict mitigation. All help is much appreciated, those who live and work in these types of places know what I mean.
In recent weeks I've touched on many issues regarding the leopard, I thank those who take the time to read the posts. From trophy hunting in Namibia to the serious conflict issues in this part of the world, the leopard is up against it in many ways. A decreasing population throughout its range means the leopard is barely holding on in many places and where the populations are a bit more stable there is a persecution, a marginalization which ultimately affects ecosystems as this big cat is exterminated from territories. Each death affects the gene pool, this in itself is enough for negative impact.
My own work within the realms of coexistence, rehabilitation and anti-trafficking means I daily confront many elements of the challenges ahead for the leopard. Maya's comment raised a point I grapple with daily because the reasons for prey species reduction stem from poverty to greed and this type of poaching is having a huge detrimental effect on ecosystems especially outside protected areas.
If I was "Boss of the World" I'd hang up a huge global sign saying "There's wildlife here - DO NOT DISTURB" but I'd go further than that, there would be many more no go zones thus less disturbance for wildlife and a complete overhaul of how we teach our kids what is truly important... the word "ecosystem" would be rammed down everyone's throat again, again and again...
To those of us working for the leopard it is a species which represents the issues of conflict, coexistence, poaching and the sheer morality lacking in our treatment and perceptions of so many species... and yet the answers are not that difficult to find, this making the frustration of lack of support more pronounced.
Let the deer live and the leopard is less likely to eat your goat... ok, it's not quite that simple but the essence of Maya's comment has a deep truth to it... #AntiPoaching ... work to do...
First a big shout out to Ian for getting batteries for the field laptop I'm using in the image and to Johnny for bringing them. Help like this is priceless, thanks so much guys. As the heat and humidity of monsoon nears its end (well I bloody hope so, still a few more weeks I guess), I've got a great deal of field work to get through in the next few months before hopefully actually seeing my family again for the first time in several years. While thanking people, shout outs to Bernd and Shelly who not only deliver gear to Nepal for me but are managing to get many used phones from their home countries of Germany and Australia respectively. Those who have been following these posts will know we are putting these phones to good use in human-wildlife conflict mitigation. All help is much appreciated, those who live and work in these types of places know what I mean.
In recent weeks I've touched on many issues regarding the leopard, I thank those who take the time to read the posts. From trophy hunting in Namibia to the serious conflict issues in this part of the world, the leopard is up against it in many ways. A decreasing population throughout its range means the leopard is barely holding on in many places and where the populations are a bit more stable there is a persecution, a marginalization which ultimately affects ecosystems as this big cat is exterminated from territories. Each death affects the gene pool, this in itself is enough for negative impact.
My own work within the realms of coexistence, rehabilitation and anti-trafficking means I daily confront many elements of the challenges ahead for the leopard. Maya's comment raised a point I grapple with daily because the reasons for prey species reduction stem from poverty to greed and this type of poaching is having a huge detrimental effect on ecosystems especially outside protected areas.
If I was "Boss of the World" I'd hang up a huge global sign saying "There's wildlife here - DO NOT DISTURB" but I'd go further than that, there would be many more no go zones thus less disturbance for wildlife and a complete overhaul of how we teach our kids what is truly important... the word "ecosystem" would be rammed down everyone's throat again, again and again...
To those of us working for the leopard it is a species which represents the issues of conflict, coexistence, poaching and the sheer morality lacking in our treatment and perceptions of so many species... and yet the answers are not that difficult to find, this making the frustration of lack of support more pronounced.
Let the deer live and the leopard is less likely to eat your goat... ok, it's not quite that simple but the essence of Maya's comment has a deep truth to it... #AntiPoaching ... work to do...
