Tibetan Antelope caught in a fence - Pantholops hodgsonii - གཙོད་ - 藏羚羊 - Chiru
We rescued this animal from the fence it was trapped in and its chances of survival are good. Alexandra, a veterinarian who by good fortune was travelling with our group, calmed the antelope and held it closely to stop it struggling. Jesper Hornskov, our guide, obtained a pair of wire cutters from Mr. Pang, the lead driver. The implement cut through the fence like it was string. My job was to photograph this animal welfare and conservation crisis.
There is virtually no hunting pressure on large mammals on the Tibetan Plateau. The problem is that as the local human population switches from traditional pastoral modes to more profitable farming methods they are now constraining their formally free-ranging livestock herds with fencing. This has a disastrous impact on antelopes, gazelles and other large ungulates. The complex migration patterns that allowed them to cover distance and altitude in response to changing seasons and forage opportunities are now being closed down. For some individuals, such as this one, it means horrible direct encounters with fences. For populations as a whole it can mean extirpation as the amount of rangeland available to wild animals rapidly shrinks.
Visible in this picture is the neck and back of the animal. It looks bad but the main injury is to its fur - horribly painful, but not life-threatening in the early summer. The real damage was lower. At first we thought the wires had cut into the chest cavity because there was a lot of blood on the ground. After some anxious discussion about putting the animal down Alexandra confirmed that the wounds, though deep, were recoverable. I’m not posting a picture of that damage, it made me a bit sick to record it. I think this image is strong enough to convey the necessary message about the situation.
Once the wires were cut Alexadra released the antelope and it bounded strongly away, running quickly for at least 500 metres then stopping to stare at us and the fence. The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List classifies this species as endangered.
Tibetan Antelope caught in a fence - Pantholops hodgsonii - གཙོད་ - 藏羚羊 - Chiru
We rescued this animal from the fence it was trapped in and its chances of survival are good. Alexandra, a veterinarian who by good fortune was travelling with our group, calmed the antelope and held it closely to stop it struggling. Jesper Hornskov, our guide, obtained a pair of wire cutters from Mr. Pang, the lead driver. The implement cut through the fence like it was string. My job was to photograph this animal welfare and conservation crisis.
There is virtually no hunting pressure on large mammals on the Tibetan Plateau. The problem is that as the local human population switches from traditional pastoral modes to more profitable farming methods they are now constraining their formally free-ranging livestock herds with fencing. This has a disastrous impact on antelopes, gazelles and other large ungulates. The complex migration patterns that allowed them to cover distance and altitude in response to changing seasons and forage opportunities are now being closed down. For some individuals, such as this one, it means horrible direct encounters with fences. For populations as a whole it can mean extirpation as the amount of rangeland available to wild animals rapidly shrinks.
Visible in this picture is the neck and back of the animal. It looks bad but the main injury is to its fur - horribly painful, but not life-threatening in the early summer. The real damage was lower. At first we thought the wires had cut into the chest cavity because there was a lot of blood on the ground. After some anxious discussion about putting the animal down Alexandra confirmed that the wounds, though deep, were recoverable. I’m not posting a picture of that damage, it made me a bit sick to record it. I think this image is strong enough to convey the necessary message about the situation.
Once the wires were cut Alexadra released the antelope and it bounded strongly away, running quickly for at least 500 metres then stopping to stare at us and the fence. The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List classifies this species as endangered.