Oct 17th, 2012 - Witness accounts 
We broke camp and moved further into the jungle, camping out in the grounds of an abandoned Buddhist monastery. This monastery is smaller than the active one we had just left and, again, has no inhabitants.

New camp site at abandoned monastery

Two young Sherpa girls are tending their cattle just below our location and today, we had the opportunity to talk with them, asking if they had ever seen tigers in the area. They both indicated that they have seen tigers in the area. Actually, a family of tigers. I listened to their stories and showed them a series of photographs of cats native to the area. The oldest of the two girls identified both tigers and leopards, saying she has seen and heard both species in these mountains. She also said that a tiger recently killed two of their calves and that she saw a tiger feeding on one of them. The calf was two years old. She took us to the kill site so that we could look for evidence of a tiger kill. The carcass had been picked clean. It had been killed approximately 20 days earlier. We were only able to find dried skin and bones. Even though the witness' story appeared to be credible, we decided not to set up a camera in the area, as the site was too remote and off any established wildlife trail.

Cattle owned by a Sherpa family

Guide locating feline scat

Cat paw print

We placed three camera traps in areas where we documented recently placed paw prints and where witnesses stated they have seen tiger activity. We'll check them in the morning.