I keep hearing that the
Kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist country nestled in the Himalayas
between India and Tibet, is an enchanting place. People
who’ve traveled there describe snow-capped peaks, lush
valleys and ancient monasteries. The country is especially known
for its progressive environmental laws, and is sometimes even
called “the last Shangri-la” for its unspoiled natural environment.
Recently, I learned an odd detail about Bhutan’s
approach to conservation, something that might sound preposterous
here in the American West. World Wildlife Fund’s Bhutan
program has received a $700,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation
to help the Bhutanese government upgrade management of the Sakteng
Wildlife Sanctuary, the country’s newest protected area.
Temperate forests of eastern blue pine and rhododendrons
cover this 253-square-mile sanctuary. “Sakteng is unique,” reported
the Environment News Service, “as the only reserve in the world
created specifically to protect the habitat of the Yeti, known in
Bhutan as the migoi, or strong man.”
Excuse me? The Bhutanese have created a 253-square-mile wildlife
sanctuary for the Yeti? They are officially setting aside habitat
for a mythological hairy dude known for scaring campers?
At first, I thought the story must be an error, but a little online
research confirmed it. Indeed, the Bhutanese have officially given
the migoi its very own home among the blue pines
and rhododendrons of the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary.
Here’s what we know about the migoi, which
goes by the names Bigfoot and Sasquatch in other parts of the
world. The ape-like creature has been a legend in the Himalayas for
centuries and is even mentioned in ancient Tibetan and Bhutanese
texts. It stands 8 feet tall, walks backward to evade trackers and
can make itself invisible, which explains why so few people have
observed it. So-called rational explanations suggest the
migoi is actually a Tibetan bear, a rare species
related to the grizzly, that places its back foot in the footprint
of its front foot while traveling through snow, thus giving the
appearance of a two-legged animal. But if the Bhutanese thought
this was an explanation, they probably would have created a bear
sanctuary.
Back home in the American West, we have enough
trouble getting land set aside for fully real, often endangered
species that we’ve tracked, collared or tagged, and
documented for decades, that don’t walk backwards or make
themselves invisible. Our most iconic wild animals — wolves,
salmon, bears, lynx — are some of those that society has been
least willing to accommodate.
Case in point: In May, the
Bush administration repealed the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation
Rule, immediately opening 34.3 million remote acres in the West to
road construction and potentially opening many more to logging,
mining and drilling. Supporters of the rule, which provided
protection for some of our country’s last remaining wild places,
called it one of the most important conservation efforts of recent
times.
Yet over in Bhutan, the migoi
gets its own personal wildlife sanctuary, just in case one of these
“strong men” exists to need it.
I wonder what sort of
political wrangling the Bhutanese went through to create the
Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary. I know that the Bhutanese king has been
in the international spotlight for measuring his country’s
progress in terms of Gross National Happiness rather than Gross
National Product.
Despite such enlightenment, it’s
often a challenge for developing countries to set aside wildlife
sanctuaries. Bhutan is a small nation, just a bit larger than
Switzerland. But unlike Switzerland, the annual income per person
is a paltry $730. Only 42 percent of Bhutanese are literate, and
they can expect to live only 52 years.
Timber is one of
Bhutan’s main exports, but apparently the Bhutanese decided
that conserving the trees was worth it to provide habitat for their
“strong men.”
Here in the American West, with our
abundance of land and relative affluence, why is it so hard to
convince each other and our local and national leaders to protect
our wildlands? Perhaps we need some more strong men and women of
our own.
Nicole Gordon is a contributor to
Writers on the Range, a service of High Country
News (hcn.org). She lives and writes in Boulder,
Colorado.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
