{"id":4518,"date":"2015-01-28T11:55:33","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T16:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/?p=4518"},"modified":"2026-03-13T22:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T22:16:20","slug":"shooting-for-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/shooting-for-glory\/","title":{"rendered":"Shooting For Glory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Pallas's<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In my previous incarnation as an international chemistry\/science teacher<\/a>, one of the things I taught my student about was plagiarism. In the academic world of some educational institutions in some countries, the punishment for plagiarism is expulsion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course passing someone else’s idea or work or product as ones own–regardless of what it is–and personally benefiting from it, is of course wrong whether you do it as a student or a professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently I discovered a case of just that in the professional world of wild life conservation in Nepal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend Tashi R. Ghale<\/a> is an amazing photographer! As an amateur photographer myself, I have always admired his incredible landscape photographs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What he has been shooting since 1994, when–based in Manang–he started working on the side as a Citizen Scientist<\/a> for Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP<\/a>), is the beautiful and illusive but endangered mountain cat: snow leopard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(In addition to Manang, the cat is also found in Mustang<\/a>, the district I am from. I grew up hearing stories about the cat and it’s “destructive” ways from my older relatives!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has produced some incredible shots of the beautiful and shy cat. Click here<\/a> for some of his photos taken with remotely-triggered still camera<\/span>, and here<\/a> for some stunning manual shots!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s more, he has also photographed a rare cat which, until he had come along, had NEVER been sighted in the country: the Pallas Cat (Otocolobus manul)<\/span> (see header image)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within days of the cat being caught on camera, not recognizing it, Tashi published the photos on Facebook<\/a> and it was immediately identified as such!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a number of other publications too (see below for a partial list), my friend is appropriately credited with the discovery and all his photos of the cat carry his name, as does the Nepalese name of the cat itself: Tashi Biralo (Tashi=”Good Luck” in Tibetan, and Biralo=”Cat” in Nepalese)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As recently as early this month, in an article<\/a> published in the Nepali Times<\/em>, Tashi is rightly credited with the discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s more on September 26, 2014, Tashi had a scoop: he filmed the cat, at the highest altitude<\/a> to date to boot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n