Bhutan is the last refuge for protecting the rare species of the Tibetan Plateau. Here, a Black-necked Crane is being painted on the face of a participant at an event hosted by the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature. The Black-necked Crane is endemic to the Tibetan Plateau. The cranes spend most of the year in Tibet but fly south to Bhutan and warmer regions to roost for the winter months, before flying back to Tibet.
Wildlife Genocide in Tibet
Michael Buckley | Tibet
Photographer: Michael Buckley
Exhibit Title: Wildlife Genocide in Tibet
Location: Tibet
During the 1960s and 1970s, Chinese military and settlers obliterated the abundant wildlife of Tibet, using machine-guns and high-powered weapons. Prior to 1950, the grasslands of Tibet teemed with vast herds of wild grazers, such as Wild Yaks, Tibetan Wild Asses, Tibetan Antelopes, Tibetan Gazelles and other species. By 1980, these vast herds were gone, in what amounted to the greatest wildlife crime of the 20th century. Because some rare high-altitude species found on the Tibetan Plateau are near-impossible to photograph today, three artwork visuals have been included with this exhibit.
The most famous witness to Tibet's abundance of wildlife is HH Dalai Lama. Here is a quote from him: "In the old days, Tibet had an abundance of wildlife. Animals such as the kiang (wild ass), chiru (Tibetan antelope), gowa (Tibetan gazelle), naa (blue sheep) and drong (wild yak) could be found in large numbers. Over the decades, however, many of these animals have been hunted. As a result, some of them have now become extinct." In 1939, as a young boy on his way to Lhasa, the Dalai Lama's main memory of this journey was of the wildlife encountered along the way: immense herds of wild asses and wild yaks roamed the great plains. He also spotted the Tibetan gazelle, the white-lipped deer, and Tibetan antelope, and was fascinated by the pika, which would congregate on grassy areas. There were the sounds of flocks of geese and at night the call of the long-eared owl.
In 1980, a fact-finding mission from his government-in-exile visited Tibet and were shocked not only by what they saw, but what they did not see. They did not see any herds of wild animals. The honking sounds of bar-headed geese were entirely absent. They remarked on the eerie silence of the grasslands. The wildlife had vanished. It had been decimated by Chinese military and settlers, hunting the wildlife for food and for sport.
Today, some species are so rare that photography is near-impossible, which is why several images in this exhibit are artwork, commissioned for the author's children's book 'The Snow Leopard's New Friend: Eco-Tales from Tibet.'
In recent years, Chinese authorities have made a lot of noise about setting up national parks and wildlife reserves in Tibet, but this is a lot of bluster that masks the fact that they are using greenwashing to kick out the Tibetan nomads from these regions. Meantime, disastrous Chinese policies continue on the grasslands, such as a 30-year-plus program to poison the Pikas (rock-rabbits) which are, without any scientific reasons, considered to be pests. Poisoning the Pikas means poisoning the predators all the way up the food chain of wildlife.
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