lahaul himachal pradesh shepherd raja hiyunari lost 250 sheep after they followed each other off a steep cliff in the chokhang area of lahaul forest division months ago while he was leading his herd from udaipur to keylong at an altitude of over 33340 feet in the high range himalayas the sheep had spotted a snow leopard and taken frightgoing by their natural instinct they followed each other off the cliff in panic all of them died he says hiyunari is hopeful the state government will compensate the loss he has applied for compensation and the state has a policy of offering compensation for loss sustained on account of wildlife he is entitled to rs 3000 for each of his sheepnot all shepherds losing sheep apply for compensation it is a cumbersome procedure and reports are sought from the gram pradhan a doctor and the forest department he says adding that most shepherds just think of such loss as preordained however with four children to feed he needed to find a way to tide over the massive financial losshumanwildlife conflict is on the rise across lahaulspiti pangi and kinnaur in himachal pradesh senior forest guard shiv kumar at udaipur range in lahaul forest division who shot to brief fame with his photographs of two snow leopards and a carcass of one leopard said in my tenure of nine years at udaipur range it was the first time that i captured two snow leopards on my camera the carcass became visible when vultures were found nibbling at it the snow leopard is suspected to have died under the avalanches it was found under a melting glacierthree years ago after tracing pug marks of a snow leopard he got camera traps installed i have captured the same individual for the past three years in my camera trap images around the same area he saysthe snow leopard lives in the high rugged terrain between 9800 to 17000 feet in himachal and is found in the region of the kibber wildlife sanctuary in lahaul and spiti to pangi in chamba district and lippa asrang in tribal kinnaur district the state wildlife department estimates that there are about 80to 100 snow leopards in the regionshiv kumar is also surprised by the frequency with which brown bear are sighted in the region a boy returning home in a nearby village was injured by a brown bear in october when the apple orchards are full of fruit brown bears come and pluck whole branches to eat to their fill before going off into hibernation for winter people now have taken to cash crops and vegetables and brown bear has started ravaging fields to enjoy the juicy carrots kumar saidthe international union for conservation of nature has advocated measures to conserve the population of snow leopard and brown bear both of which are in decline salvador lyngdoh scientist with dehradun based wildlife institute of india said snow leopard is the icon species the indicator of good climate in