Attitudes towards the snow leopard 787
awareness of posted wildlife laws and knowledge of the benefits of carnivores (Suryawanshi et al., 2014). Previous research, in Spiti Valley, India, found that live-
stock depredation by snow leopards did not substantially influence attitudes (Suryawanshi et al., 2014). In contrast, we found that the number of animals lost contributed to both greater positive and negative attitudes towards snow leopards. Intuitively for positive attitudes, those who lost less livestock would be more likely to agree with positive statements. For negative attitudes, it is possible they may have been instilled prior to loss, or that the herder experi- enced greater predation more than 5 years previously, and therefore agreed with negative statements. Another possibil- ity is that herders withmore negative attitudes exercise great- er caution and use protective measures not outlined in our survey (e.g. fenced pastures, housing newborn livestock), thus reducing loss. Livestock loss was positively correlated with number of livestock owned, indicating that all herders experienced comparable rates of predation. However, the cultivation of negative attitudes and likelihood of retaliation against snow leopards for livestock predation may be de- pendent on the predated animal’s size, age and condition. Tibetan religious beliefs, which mandate respect for wild-
life, may contribute to lower likelihood of holding negative attitudes towards snow leopards. Tibetan Buddhism influ- ences c. 80% of the geographical regions that overlap with snow leopard habitat (Li et al., 2014). Snow leopards were considered religiously important by 93% of the herders we interviewed. Such beliefs probably contribute to the ab- sence of retaliatory killing, although previous interviews in the same area during 2009–2011 reported their occurrence (Li et al., 2013, 2014). Although it appears heartening that no killings were reported to us, it is nevertheless possible that a greater number of interviews would have uncovered such reports, or that herders adopted a ‘universal silence’ in our presence (Oli et al., 1994). Other sympatric carnivores, such as the wolf Canis lupus,
probably face a greater risk of retaliatory killing despite Buddhist teachings (Mishra, 1997). Although we did not enquire about attitudes towards wolves, six herders ex- pressed concern about predation of livestock by wolves. Wolves are viewed negatively because herders presume they play a larger role in livestock predation than snow leo- pards (Suryawanshi et al., 2013). Herders are considered knowledgeable in discerning the species responsible for kills, via resulting wounds (Aryal et al., 2014). However, some kills reported in this study as being by snow leopards could nevertheless have been misidentified and caused by wolves or domestic dogs. Over 70% of herders interviewed owned at least one dog.
Predator proof corralswere positively correlated with herder age, whereas dog ownership was negatively correlated, demonstrating that dogs are more popular with younger herders. Neither predator proof corrals, guarding, nor dog
Oryx, 2021, 55(5), 783–790 © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319001315
TABLE 4 The Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients (with two-tailed significance in parentheses) of relationships between predictor variables.
Important to religion
Important to religion
Snow leopard abundance
No. of livestock owned1
Dog owned Guarding
Predator proof corral1
Insurance Age1
No. of live- stock lost
Years of formal education
No. of children1
−0.156 (0.203) 0.094 (0.439) 0.301 (0.011)*
0.233 (0.066) 0.085 (0.505) 0.317 (0.009)** 0.201 (0.100) 0.103 (0.401) 0.061 (0.615)
0.144 (0.248) −0.052 (0.669) 0.083 (0.496) 0.264 (0.024)* 0.075 (0.550) −0.158 (0.188) −0.015 (0.902)
−0.284 (0.019)* 0.119 (0.333) −0.103 (0.392) −0.356 (0.003)** 0.146 (0.225) −0.015 (0.903) −0.167 (0.174) −0.042 (0.728)
0.006 (0.960) −0.233 (0.051) 0.180 (0.134) 0.053 (0.659)
−0.054 (0.661) 0.164 (0.182) −0.068 (0.571) −0.260 (0.038)* 0.032 (0.793)* 0.334 (0.005)** −0.225 (0.063) 0.147 (0.221) −0.158 (0.223) −0.209 (0.103) 0.049 (0.706) −0.026 (0.848) −0.191 (0.140) 0.106 (0.418)
−0.027 (0.837) 0.020 (0.879) −0.037 (0.771) −0.262 (0.047)* 0.003 (0.982) 0.188 (0.143)
*P,0.05 (2-tailed); **P,0.01 (2-tailed). 1Variable removed from consideration in general model construction.
0.285 (0.026)* 0.274 (0.030)* −0.499 (0.000)** 0.047 (0.719) 0.200 (0.113)
Snow leopard abundance
No. of livestock owned1
Dog owned Guarding
Predator proof corral1
Insurance
No. of live- stock lost
Age1
Years of formal education
No. of children1
0.619 (0.000)** −0.301 (0.018)*
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164
