Shapi of Sikkim: Our legacy - ii

It was my good fortune to have visited the Forest Department Office at Deorali this summer and met officials out there. I shall remain appreciative of Ongden Daju (RO) for an occasion when I bring in contact with higher officials of the Forest Department. Apart from the reason for my presence in the Forest Department Office, I kept in mind that I would have some valuable information about Shapi, a topic that has been hovering around with me for some time now.  I was very pleased with the excitement on people’s faces when they went through a couple of photographs and a video of Shapi from the Schaefer Expedition.

I was taken to the ENVIS office by Ongden Daju, where I came across Rajen Pradhan, Sr. Programme Officer (ENVIS), who was kind enough to share with issues of PANDA magazine, issued by the Forest Department, Government of Sikkim, for my personal collections. My wandering heart was more than pleased to find two separate articles published in the PANDA magazine in 1993 and in 1994.

The 1993 issue of PANDA magazine has an article on Shapi written by C Lachungpa, SFS. In the article, C Lachungpa talks about his experience with Shapi in two separate expeditions in 1977 and 1982. The first expedition, “Operation Trap Demolition,” under his leadership, took place in September 1977 and had more than 50 members, including ROs, BOs, FGs, Constables, and porters. On 16th September, at the steep slope of River Kanaka towards Kuthang, North Sikkim, at a distance of 50 meters, two dark-coated animals were spotted on the banks of the thorny Rubus bushes.

Lachungpa, in his words, describes the animals as “looked as big as mature ponies with long manes on the neck and broad-based thick beards tapering at the ends. The horns were strange and curled.” Lachungpa was later on told by Zongpo Lepcha, an old guide, that those animals were none other than the rare Shapi. During that expedition, twenty-eight Shapi, including male, female, and sub-adult, were reported by C Lachungpa.

In 1982, Sikkim’s first Shapi Expedition took place, which was headed by C Lachungpa himself. On the morning of December 14, the team of C Lachungpa came across twenty-nine Shapi grazing along the rocks and steep hills at Fimchu, the very site where Ernst Schaefer had first documented this rare animal some four decades back. Lachungpa puts in writing the whistle-call made by a Shapi that sounded like phik-phik while moving towards the hillocks, which were later followed by the rest of the flock.

The writing also says C Lachungpa was the first government official to have seen and photographed the exotic Shapi in Sikkim after Ernst Schaefer's finding.

Despite the fact that most of the Eastern Himalayas faunas had been discovered in the late 19th century, the late discovery of Shapi could be due to the fact that it is one of the most sacred animals known so far. It is a taboo animal of the Lepchas and has always remained hidden from exposure. The other reason could be that these mammals survive around inaccessible areas that include high mountain cliffs far beyond motorable roads. The other animals that share the habitats with Shapi are Goral (Nemorhaedus goral) and Serow (Capricornis sumatraensis).

The Shapi of Sikkim is distributed alongside Fimphu, Manandang, Rahichhu, and Kuthang Valley in North Sikkim. Shapi sightings were also reported from Nimphu (North Sikkim), Aralungchok, and Gomnay North, East Sikkim.

Gut Lepcha, Field Director, KNP, in his article on “The Shapi, Our Rarest Animal” published in the 1994 issue of PANDA, writes that Pohla (1944) had designated the Shapi of Sikkim to be a new subspecies of Himalayan Tahr from Sikkim based on minor differences in pelage color and horn shape. While Haltenorth and Trense (1956) and Charles (1057) believed that all Tahr belong to the same species.

Gut Lepcha was part of a 1991 photography and videography expedition where he came across 6 individual Shapi in Satdharey (Rahichu) and 5 individual Shapi in Lingjibok.

Despite Sikkim being the home for many exotic floras and fauna, Shapi does find its place among the rarest of animals to be found in the state. Far from the madding crowd, Shapi had remained silent and it should not be disturbed. It has been our legacy and should be regarded as our state heritage treasure as well.