{"id":53532,"date":"2020-11-29T07:54:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-29T07:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=53532"},"modified":"2020-11-29T07:54:46","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T07:54:46","slug":"endangered-no-more-vulnerable-leopards-treading-with-caution-by-andrew-kittle-anjali-watson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/endangered-no-more-vulnerable-leopards-treading-with-caution-by-andrew-kittle-anjali-watson\/","title":{"rendered":"Endangered no more\u2026 \u2018Vulnerable leopards\u2019 treading with caution!-by Andrew Kittle &#038; Anjali watson"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"innerheader\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Endangered no more\u2026 \u2018Vulnerable leopards\u2019 treading with caution!-by Andrew Kittle &amp; Anjali watson<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-53533 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/A-female-leoaprd.jpg\" alt=\"A female leoaprd\" width=\"600\" height=\"341\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>A female leoaprd with her two cubs in Central Highlands<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #800000;\">Source:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 20px;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymirror.lk\/news-features\/Endangered-no-more-Vulnerable-leopards-treading-with-caution\/131-200520\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dailymirror<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>The Sri Lankan leopard remains listed as locally Endangered under the IUCN country Red List<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>It is a priority species commanded full protection under the Fauna and\u00a0Flora Protection Ordinance (1938)\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>We need to ensure better on ground protection for what is one of the last island leopard populations that continues\u00a0<\/strong><strong>to survive\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>The Sri Lankan leopard subspecies (Panthera pardus kotiya) is down listed on the International IUCN Red List\u00a0<\/strong><strong>of Species<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-53534 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Andrew-Kittle-Anjali-watson.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Kittle &amp; Anjali watson\" width=\"300\" height=\"135\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>In light of the recent leopard deaths (11) this year, including that of a black leopard and other snaring\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong> incidents which grabbed much media attention and created a public outcry, this status change of the Sri Lankan leopard may come as a surprise to many. However, there is much more that needs probing when assessing an overall species status and probability of its long-term survival. Hence, this is cautionary good news that we report, but with a warning that a close watch needs to be kept on this island leopard population and the threats it faces, as it could easily slip back into endangered status, especially given the precarious position as which it still sits.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">In 2020 the status of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) has just been down-listed from Endangered (EN) to Vulnerable (VU) on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature\u2019s (IUCN) Global Red List of Threatened Species (www.iucnredlist.org). As the IUCN assessors for this endemic sub-species we want to shed some light onto the down-listing process and how it affects the leopard in Sri Lanka.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>Assessment process<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">The IUCN Red List is the world\u2019s most definitive estimate of the status of a species, compiled using all available distribution, abundance and threat data. Using this information and specified criteria, species are assigned a particular status which guides management and conservation strategies. The Red List status categories are as follows:\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"> There are two additional categories \u2013 Data Deficient (DD), which indicates \u2013insufficient data available to determine\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">status, and Not Evaluated (NE), meaning the species has not been evaluated against the IUCN criteria. There are multiple Red Lists, with the scope of assessments either global or country-by- country, so a species might be globally common, but very rare in a Sri Lanka, so that species\u2019 global status might be \u201cLeast Concern\u201d and Sri Lankan status \u201cEndangered\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">The biggest challenge of species status determination is getting the requisite data, as wild animals, particularly solitary, cryptic predators are not easy to count. Remote cameras have provided a useful way to document carnivore distribution and estimate populations but even with these, multiple studies are required in order to fill in as many blanks as possible across habitats until a broader, scientifically robust picture begins to emerge. This is how the Wilderness &amp; Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT) under the purview of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), has approached things in Sri Lanka, moving around the country, eco-zone by eco-zone, using a standardised spatially-explicit remote camera survey method to estimate leopard populations in different areas in order to amalgamate data for a reasonable island-wide estimate used by the IUCN Red listing process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-53535 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Assessment-process.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>&#8220;Threats to the leopard are a constant menace, as seen this year by rampant forest loss and a disconcerting number of snared animals&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">There have been scientists engaged in understanding the ecology and behaviour of Sri Lanka\u2019s leopards for decades, including the former Director of the National Museum P.E.P. Deraniyagala, who in 1956 first put forth the idea that the Sri Lankan leopard was a separate sub-species, a notion confirmed by Dr. Sriyanie Miththapala in 1989 using DNA analysis. The earliest known leopard population estimate comes from a hunter named Clark in 1901 who estimated that there were 1660 leopards in the country. In the 1960s Smithsonian Institution scientist John Eisenberg and student Nancy Muckenhirn estimated the leopard density in Wilpattu and in 1982, the late Professor Charles Santiapillai, one of Sri Lanka\u2019s pre-eminent zoologists, estimated leopard density in Block I of Yala National Park. In 1994, Professor Mangala de Silva, and Yala National Park DWC officer B.V.R. Jayaratne followed up with another estimate of leopard population in Block I. Both of these estimates \u2013 as well as the Smithsonian Wilpattu estimate are very similar to our own results from these National Parks conducted in 2001-02 (Yala) and 2015 (Wilpattu).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">In 1982 Dr. Santiapillai and company suggested that Sri Lanka held \u201cfewer than 1000 leopards\u201d, later clarified to be ~400 \u2013 600 individuals. The assumption at that time was that leopards were almost exclusively restricted to the island\u2019s National Parks and Reserves. Subsequent research by us has revealed that leopards occur more widely than previously assumed, residing outside Protected Areas including in buffer zones and small forest patches, from the Central Highlands to the lowland dry zone.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">In 2008 we were tasked with conducting the updated IUCN status determination for Sri Lankan leopards. A better idea of the distribution of the species in the country and our 2002 statistically robust estimate of Yala National Park\u2019s Block I population, allowed for a more nuanced estimation method. The final estimate was 834 mature individuals (range: 700 &#8211; 950) and since the overall population of mature individuals was &lt; 2500, with an inferred population decline due to forest loss and human persecution, and the assumption that no sub-population was greater than 250 individuals, the sub-species status fell into the IUCN\u2019s \u201cEndangered\u201d category.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-53536\" src=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Adult-male-Gal-Oya-NP.jpg\" alt=\"Adult male Gal Oya NP\" width=\"600\" height=\"395\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">Adult male Gal Oya NP\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>New assessment<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">In 2018, the IUCN asked for a re-assessment. In the intervening decade we had greatly improved our understanding of leopard ecology in Sri Lanka with robust population surveys completed in the montane zone (Horton Plains NP-2012), the lowland dry zone (Wilpattu NP-2015), and the unprotected Central Highlands tea estate landscapes (Maskeliya region &#8211; 2016). We also had new distribution data and a lot of remote camera capture rates throughout the island including protected areas of various types, and unprotected areas (e.g. Gal Oya NP, Ritigala Strict Natural Reserve, Namal Oya Sanctuary, Sigiriya private lands, sub-montane zone lands). The updated population estimate was therefore based on a lot of new information. Two other recent studies \u2013 in Wilpattu NP in 2018 by Dinal Samarasinghe and team and in Horton Plains NP in 2017-18 by Dr. Enoka Kudawithanegas\u2019 team \u2013 did not have results available yet so were not included, and regardless their subsequent estimates were similar enough to our own previous ones. The updated population estimate was 776 mature individuals (range: 529 \u2013 1132) and suggested a 7% population size decrease from 2008 to 2018, a rate of decrease not sufficient, according to IUCN criteria, for the species status to be considered Endangered. This is actually a positive outcome in that we are not seeing a large population decline, even outside the well-known protected areas.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>&#8220;A suspected population decline comes from observations of increasing forest cover loss and increasing human persecution&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">As a result, the status of the sub-species was changed from Endangered to Vulnerable, but because the new estimate was based on new data it is considered a \u201cNon-genuine change\u201d based on new information. We suggested within the assessment that this status change be carefully monitored as we suspect that threats are increasing and the population is likely to be decreasing. A suspected population decline comes from observations of increasing forest cover loss and increasing human persecution. Again, this means that the change of status for the Sri Lankan leopard, while a positive outcome overall, needs to be carefully monitored. The IUCN has agreed and the status change is marked as precautionary with the Sri Lankan leopard a sub-species \u201cunder observation\u201d and requiring careful ongoing monitoring with a built in mechanism to re-assess quickly if new information emerges.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>Future outcome<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\">From a practical perspective how might this status change impact the Sri Lankan leopard? In general, not much, as the Sri Lankan leopard remains listed as locally Endangered under the IUCN country Red List and more importantly, is a priority species commanded full protection under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (1938), which is the legal document describing wildlife protection in Sri Lanka. However, as threats to the leopard are a constant menace, as seen this year by rampant forest loss and a disconcerting number of snared individuals, we need to ensure better on ground protection for what is one of the last island leopard populations that continues to survive. Ironically, where this status change might impact most, is in the ability of conservation and research organizations \u2013 such as WWCT \u2013 to continue with research initiatives. This is because the status \u2018Endangered\u2019 is of higher priority from a conservation standpoint than \u2018Vulnerable\u2019, and it is towards the higher priority concerns that resources tend to flow. Of course, the duty of conservation scientists is to quantify and assess the on-ground situation to the best of their ability and communicate this reality in an honest and unbiased manner. This is what we have attempted to do and will continue to do.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>Authors: Lead Scientist<br \/>\n\/Founding Trustees<br \/>\nWilderness &amp; Wildlife Conservation Trust<br \/>\nThe Leopard Project<br \/>\nSri Lanka<br \/>\nwwct.org<br \/>\ninfo@wwct.org\/akittle@wwct.org\/awatson@wwct.org\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-53537 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Resident-adult-female-in-Central-Highlands-549x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"549\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #000000;\"><strong>Resident adult female in Central Highlands<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Endangered no more\u2026 \u2018Vulnerable leopards\u2019 treading with caution!-by Andrew Kittle &amp; Anjali watson A female leoaprd with her two cubs in Central Highlands Source:Dailymirror The Sri Lankan leopard remains listed as locally Endangered under the IUCN country Red List It is a priority species commanded full protection under the Fauna and\u00a0Flora Protection Ordinance (1938)\u00a0\u00a0 We [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":53533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[31120,28855],"class_list":{"0":"post-53532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-aside","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-articles","8":"tag-nancy-muckenhirn","9":"tag-sri-lankan-leopard","10":"post_format-post-format-aside"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.7.1 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Endangered no more\u2026 \u2018Vulnerable leopards\u2019 treading with caution!-by Andrew Kittle &amp; 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