The sunny spot...

Some places where leopards live, the high places where they share territory with snow leopards, are more welcoming than others. Where a valley starts to rise steeply, sometimes you can see a sunny spot, you imagine being warmer, you wonder if maybe a big cat has bathed in the sun there. There's only way to find out for sure...

Loyalty to the Leopard, it's a hard sell...

I was up past 1am testing a flashlight system to deter a leopard that had entered the village last night. It was cold as I entered the jungle this morning to clear cameras and now it's off to check for sign. I'm a few days out from heading to a mountain area where conflict with leopards is more prevalent with the onset of winter.

The leopard is a hard sell. There is so much focus on tiger, elephant and rhino, even snow leopard, these guys are the rock stars and worthy of support but don't give me this umbrella species bullshit, panthera pardus has habitat, challenging terrain in non and minimal protected areas far away from the icon species.

Getting protected status for the leopard here will be a breakthrough but only another step, that protection will have to be enforced. A couple of days ago while checking the leopard Dipnani I thought of that but the motivation came from her eyes, the message that every single of these cats is precious and being in a tiny minority group loyal to these animals doesn't matter. An incredible email from a friend and colleague helped me a lot, Marty understands the concept of different frequency planes, the different cognitive energies of species and how we are not superior to them, a long way off in fact. If more people understood that every leopard is just as important as every tiger, every elephant and every rhino then support would be comparable. In the meantime it's a case of battling on until that realization happens. I thank those who are truly loyal to the leopard. We are few in number but it takes courage to be different..

UPDATE: I've just tracked the leopard to this goat shed in a favourite part of the village for me, a peaceful place not far from my base. A dog was taken by leopard here a couple of nights ago but there was no livestock loss last night, this shed and a couple of others like it doing a good job.
So what did this leopard eat? Where did it go? With a tiger marking territory nearby the squeeze is on the spotted cat. I am presenting a report to the community when I am back from the mountains, there'll be plenty to discuss including if the proposed thinking on night safari is the right idea. I'm very much for keeping people right away from jungles at night, predators have to have every chance to do their thing undisturbed. There may be some compromise, let's see...

FULL PROTECTION STATUS A MUST - a lot to do but momentum is gathering...

The aim: FULL PROTECTION STATUS. Many thanks to those who have responded of late, email replies are on their way. Momentum is gathering. Full protection status will mean allocation of resources to combat threats to the leopard as well as the people living with them. It will also mean a wake up call to those who are asleep with regard to the importance of this animal. Long days, always a lot to do but yeah, momentum. Too much carnage to celebrate anything though, that can only happen when the job is done. Watch this space...

A species under siege... and a quick shout out to people fighting that...

This post is also at Facebook (in two sections along with other updates not on this blog page) if you wish to comment.

As I dig deeper into the leopard skin trade, both legal and illegal, the lines become blurred because yes, under the guise of trophy hunting you can legally shoot a leopard in certain countries, import the "trophy" at which point it attains value. China has always been the whipping boy re illegal trade but considering the amount of skins that go into the US alone, "legally", it's fair to say there is global complicity. The findings are ending up in a document to help get the leopard added to the Protected Species List here, the web of trade links Nepal, where the animal is being poached, it spreads everywhere. I'm not backward in coming forward on this issue and the 10,000 dead leopards reference I've used in recent posts, at the request of a literary agent who has become fascinated in my struggle for this species as well as the global apathy, well, that tells it's own story. I'm unable to get food for the leopard Dipnani today, I pray I can tomorrow, this thing is a battle on many levels. So it's going to be laptop catch up day, replying to overdue messages, my answers will be direct, there's no time any more for it to be any other way for a species under siege...

I'll have a proper project update in a few days but just some quick shout outs. Bernd is pictured here back in Germany, he and his wife Monica have been working tirelessly to get equipment to help mitigate problems in the continual challenge of human-wildlife coexistence. This includes these torches which are being distributed in highly affected areas re elephant and leopard issues. Bernd is putting wildleopard.net stickers on the torches, I'll explain soon how wildleopard.net, an offshoot of WildTiger, is progressing. Also a big thanks to Ian at ProsChoice for his help as we develop LeopardEye, I'm putting a lot of hours into this type of monitoring of wildlife and people in hotspot areas, Ian has kindly provided equipment for testing. And also to Shelly from Australia who has been a fantastic courier of gear here while continuing to do her own work helping this country. Every effort counts, thank you...

10 thousand dead leopards and barely an eyebrow raised...

There's a hell of lot of hypocrisy within the trophy hunting debate. I'm collecting a lot of data at the moment, for the document I'm producing here regarding why the leopard should have full protection status. A couple of days ago (at the behest of the guy who is helping me write my book) I posted (on Facebook) the figure of 10,000 leopards trophy hunted (over the decade of 2004-14) and as usual it barely raised a eyebrow. Meanwhile there is huge noise about the elephant situation, about the same amount were trophy hunted during the same period. You all know the story now, Trump has been forced to a back down and now his spin doctors are wriggling.

As a leopard conservationist this makes me grimace. Public support for leopard conservation is very low compared to other species and the battle for government and big org support is just as frustrating, many of my peers are tearing their hair out. There's so much hypocrisy with the big org situation, very rarely do they speak out against trophy hunting, there's too much donor connection, too much politics. At least I don't have that problem, I say what I feel and I will again, I am completely against trophy hunting, there is no proven scientific, conservation or economic justification that it helps saves a species. A lot of people are... but herein lies the hypocrisy. Sure, I accept that elephants have a lot more emotional pull for people than leopards but if there was a greater understanding of the ecological impact of decreasing populations of panthera pardus (leopard), a species that has taken 3 and a half million years to evolve, then maybe there would be more equality in support, less "selectionism" ... a new word I've just invented for this blog.

My book is going into this big time under the theme of marginalization... and I won't be holding back.

But right now I've got a leopard enclosure to design... and I have to sell a hell of lot of photos to pay for it... the next stage in what we are trying to achieve here to protect a marginalized species which only a few seem to understand but every one is precious...

The first image of these two above is taken with my phone from the wonderful document WAGHOBA TALES: ADVENTURES IN LEOPARD LAND (link HERE) sent to me by Vidya Athreya, it gives a different more personal take on the study done in Akole by Vidya and team.  The image accompanies the story of how a drunk man got caught in a leopard trap age.  Strangely, and I wasn't trapped or drunk, but I know what it is like to be in a cage with a leopard prowling outside (second image), more on that another day.
The journal published accompanied the study has helped me a lot (link HERE) in my own work and references SOCIAL CARING CAPACITY.  There's more on that in a post just made at Living with Leopards for those interested but it extends beyond the elements of spiritual beliefs and tolerance.  I'm about to walk a few collars to place cameras on a path where a leopard walks very close to houses.  I need to identify the cat but just as importantly I need to understand what the people living there think of the situation, how they are coping.  Coexistence is very much about balance and fairness to both parties.

Something that never ceases to amaze me is how silent leopards are...

Something that never ceases to amaze me is how silent leopards are, they even eat quietly compared to other predators, their sense of surroundings is constant. 
The leopard's awareness of habitat, its territory, is remarkable, something honed in over 3 and half million years. As I increase my own understanding of their strategies to coexist with other beings in a modern world (right now my focus is their relationship with an increasing tiger population... and us), my respect for them grows. Being quite a private animal myself, perhaps I empathize with these cats, and when I am sharing space with these incredible creatures, the sound of the jungle, silent, soft but sometimes chaotic when the hunt succeeds, is enough to connect me with my true primal being and always remind me why we must protect the leopard...

LeopardEye - Non invasive wildlife and human image capture...

I'll bring more info on LeopardEye in the new year, testing is ongoing but it has already brought valuable data. Non-invasive cameras "talking" to each other, daisy chaining images to base is the way forward and has application in a wide scope of wildlife conservation needs. I'm enthusiastic as to how this can evolve, the tracking of conflict animals and anti-poaching are two areas I'm developing the system for. So far, so good, all part of busy days.

Quick update Yeti style...

Way behind in replies, will get there, always do, just takes time. The leopard Dipnani is doing well, a long way to go in the process but reintroduction still on the cards. A shout out to the team at Proschoice for their help with LeopardEye, more on this development down the track.

More than ever I understand why the leopard being added to the Protected Species List here is crucial, it needs to happen, dialogue continues on this and I'm flat out prepping a document, am hopeful but at the same time every day there are losses for this cat, that is not easy, I hate apathy and I hate promises that aren't kept, it affects what can be done... the daisy chain affect with weak links.

In different places I've picked up the nickname Yeti, I can't think why but then going through some video for a presentation, I found this...oh.
#MountainTimes ... I love the lowland jungles I'm in now but heart is always in the mountains...

Pre dawn, two big cats, one protected, one not, waiting for their stories of the night...

Pre dawn, no light yet, waiting. Working while I wait. Soon, after wildlife settles, the "night shift" ending, it's onto trails where stories of the dark unfold, two big cats, one protected, one not, have hunted in our darkness yet to them it is simply the hours that they do what they do, hopefully undisturbed by the noise that is us.
Yes, one protected with numbers rising, one not protected with numbers decreasing. Most people have care factor zero with regards to that sentence, I thank those who are different and support with meaning... it's not easy fighting for the underdog but somebody bloody has to...

Silent gold, this morning's pug marks give more vital clues...

The pug marks this morning were exactly where I hoped they would be, further checking and data giving more info on tiger and leopard coexistence, which individuals are more tolerant. A lot to do but vital in understanding the dynamics as tiger population increases and how leopards will manage territory accordingly. Re my post yesterday, please, real conservation is so much more than just the charismatic, tourist bringing species like tiger. The leopard is not getting a fair deal despite its importance as an ecosystem engineer over vast territories way beyond the so called "umbrella species" habitats...

I wonder how many leopards have to die before the wake up?

I've just made the following post at Facebook where you can comment if you wish:

Hats off to Pragati again for being one of the very few with the courage and passion to speak up about this. I also want to thank the crew of helpers here at Bardia National Park, there are people here who understand but in the main this is a disgusting situation through the leopard's global range. As someone who is giving his all for this species I can tell you right now the situation is not good, governments, the big orgs and the public in general are letting this animal down badly, as well as in many cases, the people living with them being let down too. I do have hope that here in Nepal the leopard will be given full protected status, there are people who want that but once again, throughout the global range, there is too much apathy, a very poor indictment on our species. I'm sick of promises from the sectors I've mentioned above, I could have built ten rescue centres if a dollar came for every promise and soon I'll be be blogging about a philosophy from another diligent leopard advocate, India's leading expert, Vidya Athreya. It's called SOCIAL CARING CAPACITY. I do think there will be a wake up on this eventually but how many cats have to bloody die in the meantime? My feet are on the ground, every single day, I'm even passing up a fully paid for trip to Australia to speak at a conference because leaving the field at that time would not be right. It would have been nice to see family for the first time in ages but hopefully Pragati will go instead, she has the guts to do a great job. But support is needed overall. Words are words and can be powerful but they will never be a substitute for action...

This is what Pragati wrote at her Twitter feed @GreeningPlanet with regard to the article below and it's also posted at Living with Leopards

On Friday, a man was arrested when trying to sell a leopard hide from Shankhamul in KTM (Kathmandu). Same day, a leopardess carcass without its head, claws n skin found near Nepal-India border.#leopards have received far less attention and trade remains largely ignored.

Combing on near India-Nepal border to nab leopard poachers

"Don't disturb" - let wildlife have its space...

(image captured on remote camera). A lot going on at the moment within the the realms of #coexistence, #rehabilitation (leopard) and #AntiTrafficking, I'll have an update in a few days. A boisterous and often amusing (black humour as a coping mechanism!) discussion decided on the name of "Gorkha" for the tiger which has entered our area, more on why that name came about at a later date but the realities of adequate prey base, availability of water and habitat encroachment tempered the merriment. Wild boar as a prey species are incredibly important, so many leopard scats I find show that, so every one of these animals poached illegally has a detrimental ramification. The web of life is complicated but if left to do its own thing, nature will manage, we are all better off for it. Disturbance is a key issue and has to be constantly addressed. Let wildlife have its space, the world is then a better functioning place...

The images below are also taken with remote camera, I posted them on Facebook yesterday. I've got literally tens of thousands of images, they are important data but a key element to capture is minimal disturbance.