The Snow Leopard Scouts Lower Mustang act out a street drama showing challenges snow leopards face sharing their habitat with villagers in the mountains. In this photo we see a student playing the role of a snow leopard caught in a livestock corral. Photo SLC.
The Snow Leopard Scouts of Lower Mustang in Nepal recently performed a dramatic and unique snow leopard street drama called “Mountain Queen, the Snow Leopard”. The young local students performed in Muktinath, a beautiful village sacred to Buddhists and Hindus 3700m high in the Himalayas.
The Scouts acted out challenges faced by snow leopards including being caught in a livestock corral. The event was held during the Yartung (horse-riding) festival (2-3 August 2012) which attracts hundreds of people from the local region. The street theatre is a great idea and an engaging way to send a message about the importance of snow leopard conservation to local villagers, civil servants as well as the many international visitors trekking through these spectacular mountains.
The Snow Leopard Scouts are an initiative of Dr Som Ale and the Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC -US) who are exploring novel and ground breaking ways to make community-based conservation interesting and engaging for young and old. As well as this street drama the Snow Leopard Scouts of Lower Mustang also plan to publish this story in a colourful comic book for a wide circulation.
A happy snow leopard scout with his certificate in front of the spectacular mountains he shares with snow leopards in Nepal. Photo SLC.
For more on this story and more photos from Dr Som Ale of the Snow Leopard Conservancy see their Live Journal Blog.
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