Its eyes shine like two large flashlights in the darkness, and it feels like it’s looking straight at you. It puts one big paw in front of the other and walks on, and you can see the shoulder blades moving under the thick fur in time with the steps. It is a snow leopard that has been caught on film in a camera trap in Bhutan’s Himalayas. The large, majestic feline is only one of a total of 134 that are currently found in the small Asian country. The population has risen by almost 40 percent since the last count was made in 2016. This is good news, because the big cats are classified as vulnerable on the international IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and worldwide there are fewer and fewer of them. But in Bhutan, they have cracked the code on how to look after the animals, which have also been called the “ghosts of the mountains” because of their shy nature and white fur. – Bhutan has done two things that are very important, says Bo Øksnebjerg. He is secretary general of the WWF World Wildlife Fund – and he knows a lot about snow leopards. – One is that the government has decided that they want more nature and that they want to look after nature in the country. It is a systematic approach that is not just about the snow leopards, but about the whole country. The other thing they have done is that they have designated some large areas for protection and created corridors between these areas, so the animals can move between them, he says. Tourists give money to nature More snow leopards have come to Bhutan, because the country has done a lot of work over several years to ensure good living conditions for the animals. But several small things have also been done to ensure that the snow leopards and humans can live side by side. Investment has also been made in building fences for the local population’s yakkoks, so that they are not eaten at night. They have also created insurance policies, should it still happen. People have received training in how to avoid conflicts with the predators and something has also been done to strengthen tourism. – This is a model reminiscent of the one you have in the Galápagos, where you pay a fairly high sum for every day you are in Bhutan. So that money actually comes from the tourists to protect nature, says Bo Øksnebjerg. According to Bo Øksnebjerg, there are two threats to the snow leopards in particular – and one of them is us humans. – Humans shoot the wild goats that the snow leopard was supposed to live on. In addition, we still have problems with poachers. It is not more than a couple of years since I saw a leopard fur being sold in Kathmandu in Nepal, he says. But the man-made climate changes are also a threat to the fur animals. – It’s getting hotter and hotter and hotter and that means you can farm higher and higher up in the Himalayas. Since the snow leopard lives on the snow line in the mountains, this means that the snow leopard is pushed higher and higher into the mountains. Can spread to other countries The snow leopard is found in 12 different countries in South and Central Asia. There is uncertainty about how many there actually are in the world, but it is estimated that there are between 4,000 and 7,500. Therefore, the 134 cats in Bhutan sound like a very small number in the big picture. But it is still important that the snow leopards thrive in Bhutan. Because other countries can learn something from the country’s efforts. – It is a very good example that if you really want to and you make a plan, you can actually get it financed and achieve some goals without it coming at the expense of anything else. That is what many countries can learn something from. Also, the population of snow leopards in Bhutan may spread outwards. – What is happening now is that we are in the process of trying to increase the natural value and quality in Nepal and in China and in some of the countries that are close to Bhutan. As the quality of nature improves there, the surplus production of kittens and young cats from Bhutan will spread into these areas, where prey populations continue to rise, and where people have gained a better understanding of not shooting the snow leopards, tell Bo Øksnebjerg. It is also good for the climate that more snow leopards are protected. – The wisest way to work with the climate is to try to solve the climate crisis and the crisis in biological diversity at the same time, because they are so closely linked, says Bo Øksnebjerg. – Ecosystems are largely maintained by the animals that live in nature. They are the ones who ensure that the dynamics work, that the forests stand and so on. Therefore, it can be said that healthy ecosystems represent that these animal species are really important to nature.
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The snow leopard is vulnerable, but in Bhutan the rare felines thrive
