KATHMANDU, Nov 30: Two snow leopards were successfully collared with GPS devices in mid-November in Bhijer of Shey Phoksundo National Park in Dolpa district in Karnali province.
Captured at 4,171 meters in Charkarbo, the first of the two snow leopards weighed 38 kgs and has been was named Zeborong after the local Snow Leopard Conservation Committee.
The second leopard has been named Shyamling, after the Shyamling Gumba [monastery], the oldest monastery in Dolpa. Shyamling was captured at 3,885 meters in Ngyong and it weighed 33 kgs. Both the snow leopards are male.
Snow leopards fitted with ‘satellite GPS collar’
They were fitted with satellite-GPS collars and released back into the wild.
“The Western Himalayan Landscape is a priority landscape, with Dolpa having the largest snow leopard population in Nepal. And the use of satellite telemetry collaring in research and monitoring will help in the conservation of these iconic species in the landscape,” stated Dr Bishwanath Oli, secretary at the Ministry of Forests and Environment.
Gopal Prakash Bhattarai, Director General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation stated that, “The data generated from these collars will be crucial in understanding the spatial ecology of snow leopards in this landscape while also bridging the existing information gaps in the Western Himalayan Landscape.”
After wildlife biologist Dr Rodney Jackson’s scientific radio collaring mission in the 1980’s to track snow leopards and learn about their habitats, this is the first time that a satellite telemetry expedition has been undertaken in the Western Himalayan Landscape.
Both Zeborong and Shyamling will be closely monitored by the government and conservation biologists. With almost no data from this terrain, conservationists are hopeful that the information received from the recent collaring, almost 40 decades later will help determine snow leopard movement patterns, habitat use and preferences, and home ranges in western Himalayas to identify critical habitats and corridors between them, including trans-boundary habitat linkages and climate resilient habitat for future conservation.
Ghana S Gurung, Country Representative of WWF Nepal said, “With growing infrastructural development across the country, information received from the collaring will be key in identifying implications of linear infrastructure in snow leopard habitats, human-snow leopard interface and mitigation measures.”
Gurung also mentioned that besides contributing toward the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP), the data will also help determine how snow leopard conservation moves ahead in Nepal in the face of climate change.
