No trip to the mountains of Ladakh can be complete without a glimpse of its colourful prayer flags and Buddhist monasteries. The religious fabric of Ladakh, however, is not monochromatic. Almost half of the population practises Islam, and is mostly located in Kargil, while Buddhist communities are located largely in Leh.

The, the two districts have a lot in common landscape-wise. Both are strongholds of large and threatened wildlife such as the snow leopard and the wolf. Jammu and Kashmir has the largest share of potential snow leopard habitat in the country, most of which is within Ladakh. In our 15-month study, we found that mercy/compassion was common to both faiths though roles and responsibilities of each faith with respect to wildlife were interpreted differently.

In a nutshell, Mahayana Buddhism postulates the theory of dependent origination in which sentient beings (including humans) can function only in relation to others around them and therefore, do not have an independent existence. Empathy, compassion and non-violence toward all sentient beings are morals important to attract good karma.

Islam (as practised in Ladakh) propagates the idea of an all-powerful creator (Allah) who has made human beings trustees of the earth. Humans are called upon to have mercy on non-humans, and use His creations responsibly. Such overlaps and differences can be used to design conservation and awareness programmes that can highlight the importance of compassion, non-violence and empathy for sentient beings.

Our interviews with local communities in both Leh and Kargil districts revealed that individuals generally exhibited less negative attitudes toward snow leopards than wolves. Dislike for wolves is a universal pattern, which has been attributed to the wolf depredation on livestock, cultural biases, for example negative framing of wolves in folk stories; wolf behaviour – they howl, move in packs, all of which is perceived to be unpleasant. Overall, attitudes were not influenced by whether one was a self-identified Buddhist or Muslim. They were influenced instead by the gender, level of education and the extent of awareness of wildlife laws. One pattern stood out in the Buddhist villages where there was significant correlation between religiosity (i.e. the level of religious activity) and attitudes toward snow leopards and wolves.

This means that Buddhist individuals who claimed to be ‘more religious’ had more positive attitudes toward the two carnivores. No such pattern was observed in the Muslim sample.

This is the first study that has attempted to examine religiosity along with religion in the context of carnivore management. And while the scale needs refinement, future research could further this line of thought, and find means to improve upon the measurement indices of our study.

For more, visit: http://ncf-india.org/publications/895

Saloni Bhatia works with Nature Conservation Foundation. The 15-month study—funded by Whitley Fund for Nature-Fondation Segré Partnership Fund—was undertaken by Bhatia, Dr. Stephen Redpath, Dr. Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi and Dr. Charudutt Mishra