The 'world's most handsome mammal' is vulnerable species

By Subir Ghosh.


It's an attractive, furry, and adorable creature. Ironically and unfortunately, that is what makes the red panda a vulnerable species. It is not critically endangered yet, but the potential threat posed to it is immense.
TRAFFIC, the international wildlife trade monitoring network, has just released a report Sikkim—under the sign of the red panda that documents the potential threats posed to this mammal, described as the "most handsome mammal on Earth" by Frederic Cuvier, who is credited to have named it in 1825. [The 500KB report is in a PDF format, and can be downloaded here.]
The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is the only true panda in the world and has been named the state animal of landlocked Indian state of Sikkim. The species is found primarily in the mountainous forests of the Himalayas and adjacent mountain ranges in south-western China. Today, the range is a bit sporadic and extends from Central Nepal through Bhutan and Northeast India (including Sikkim). It is also found in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Yunnan, Sichuan and Qingling Mountains in Shaanxi, China.
This mammal, which has been accorded national protection throughout its range, is listed by IUCN as Vulnerable. All commercial trade of the species too is been banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Only 10,000 of them are left in the wild. In India, the population is estimated to be around 5,000-6,000, while in China there are said to be 6,000-7,000 individuals. Researchers, however, feel these numbers are probably on the optimistic side. Numbers, in fact, have dwindled by over 40 per cent in the last 50 years alone. Incidentally, the animal's taxonomic name Ailurus fulgens means "the cat with the shining fur".
The red panda has been hunted for its attractive red fur. Hats and coats have been traditionally woven by the ethnic Yi people in China's Yunan province. The study conducted by several authors including Samir Sinha, Head of TRAFFIC India and Roland Melisch, Senior Programme Director with TRAFFIC, found that such hats and coats are worn even today. There was, however, no way to find whether these had been manufactured from the fur of recently hunted animals.

Potential illegal cross-border trade poses a problem for red pandas from India. In the southern Chinese province of Yunnan furs of the red panda are still used today for hats and worn by Tibetan men and women of the Yi minority.

The researchers know it for certain that the sale of wild meat is widespread in China’s southern provinces, despite government efforts to prevent the sale of protected species. Yet, the scale of this threat is too sporadic to be quantified. This is what makes it a disturbing scenario. While the tell-tale signs of threats are all there, this cannot be as yet quantified to present the holistic picture.
Though the largest wild population of the species is found in the neighbouring state of Arunachal Pradesh, it is arguably more threatened in Sikkim. The state government has prohibited tree-felling in forest reserves outside socio-economic zones, enforcement is rather lax. Moreover, because of the practice of wood pastures in the past, there has been a loss of quality habitat at the 1,500-4,000 m altitudes. The red panda has disappeared from the Fambong Lho Wildlife Sanctuary. The researchers felt this raised the question whether poaching has become rampant in the region.
The biggest potential trade comes from the opening of the Nathu La Pass to trade since July 2006. Because of its strategic bottlenecked position between Nepal and Bhutan, the point is of immense economic significance for border trade between India and China. Though wildlife species are excluded from this trade, such trade usually has its undesired side-effects, both in Sikkim and neighbouring West Bengal.
Sikkim provides only 10 per cent of the red panda's potential habitat, but is an extremely important ecological stepping stone. Economic development and rapidly growing human population are already exerting pressures on the mammal's habitat. This is compounded by the potential threat posed by border trade.

source:digitaljournal