Snow Leopards: Awareness Can Save These Beautiful Species!

 

MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS

The strikingly beautiful snow leopard occupies the slopes of some of the highest and most rugged mountains in the world. Perfectly adapted to thrive in its rock and snow home where temperatures often plummet upto -40 degrees Celsius below zero, snow leopards are the undisputed monarchs of the high mountains. Biologists consider snow leopards to be the indicator of the health and resilience of the fragile high mountains.

The snow leopard is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species and their population is rapidly declining. Their numbers have fallen by over 20 percent in less than 20 years. With as few as 4,000 left in the wild, and only around 500 in India, this magnificent big cat could soon vanish forever.

Protecting snow leopards means securing the livelihoods of local communities, water security for millions of people and conservation of unique high altitude biodiversity.

Snow leopards can only be found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Snow leopards are in trouble - and only humans can help.

One of the most exotic and elusive “big cat” species known to mankind, snow leopards are facing extinction due to a variety of factors, but countries are stepping up efforts to protect these animals from poachers, local communities and the effects of changing weather patterns.

Known for choosing cold, high mountains as their habitat of choice, snow leopards are found only in twelve countries across the world. In the Europe and Central Asia region, that includes the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia in Europe and Central Asia.

Snow leopards are typically two to five feet in length. They are characterized by their powerful build, white-grey coats with large black spots and rings, and long tails. The former helps them blend in with the steep and mountainous terrain in Central Asia, while the latter provides balance and helps them stay warm.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates their population to be anywhere between 4,000 and 6,500. But that number is falling fast.

Protecting this rare species entails three main measures -- conserving their ecosystems, saving them from poachers and local communities that kill them to protect their livestock, and helping to offset the effect of climate change and human settlements.

The governments of these 12 countries are trying to do exactly that with a multi-year plan called the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Recovery Program (GSLEP), which was initiated in 2012 and is supported by the World Bank Group, Global Environment Facility, and United Nations Development Program, among other organizations.

 

What’s making Snow Leopards scarce?

Habitat loss, poaching and increasing conflict with communities have seen over a fifth of the world’s snow leopards disappear in the last 16 years. And climate change is now putting the future of their mountain home at even greater risk. But WWF is working to address these threats. And with your help we can make a real difference.

Snow leopards have long been killed for their beautiful fur, bones and other body parts - and the illegal trade in snow leopard parts appears to have doubled since the past decade. Almost 1000 snow leopards are believed to be killed in the past decade to feed illegal markets.

A recent report by TRAFFIC estimates that 220 to 450 snow leopards die each year at the hands of people – and the actual number could be even higher! With as few as 4,000 snow leopards possibly left in the wild, stopping the killing is an extremely high conservation priority.

Poaching and killing of snow leopards takes many different forms. In about twenty percent of known cases since 2008, cats were killed for their fur or bones. A similar number died in traps that had been set out for wolves and other species. More than half of all cases, however, involved local herders killing cats in retaliation for livestock attacks. Their motive isn’t greed, or cruelty – it’s desperation.

Snow leopards typically hunt wild prey like Argali sheep for food. Since local communities and herders also hunt the same animals, snow leopards attack local livestock – sheep, goats, and yak calves, for example -- to compensate. In turn, the locals kill snow leopards to protect their livestock.  Growing human settlements also cut into these animals’ natural habitats, leaving them with lesser space to live and hunt.

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is one of the rarest and most elusive big cat species with a population of 4,500 to 7,500 spread across a range of 1.2 to 1.6 million kilometers in some of the world's harshest and most desolate landscapes. Found in arid environments and at elevations sometimes reaching 18,000 feet (5,500 meters), the species faces great threats despite its extreme habitat. These threats vary across its range, but in all countries where it is found — Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and possibly Myanmar — the species is at risk. In some countries snow leopard are directly hunted for their pelt, in others they are imperiled by depletion of prey, loss of habitat, and killing as a predator of livestock. These threats, combined with the cat's large habitat requirements, means conservation through the establishment of protected areas alone may not be enough save it from extinction in the wild in many of the countries in which it lives.

How can people help snow leopard conservation?

The Mighty Himalayas, which are home to the Snow Leopard, are the source of 500 million people freshwater. As top level predators of the Himalayas, snow leopards regulate the entire Himalayan ecosystem By protecting the snow leopard, you will protect many people primary water sources, their lives and their future!

There is less and less land for the wild animals in our world. Only Humans can save these iconic species. NGOs need to help local communities to keep livestock depredation from snow leopards at a manageable level while increasing incomes and strengthening stewardship of alpine ecosystems. We should envision a vibrant mountain landscape where people and wildlife are in harmony with the environment and a keystone species like the snow leopard can live in freedom.

 

Education

Our educational programs have taught conservation history and strategy to over 16,000 students in countries like Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Russia, and India. Our goal is to inspire the next generation of conservationists and help them acquire the tools and training needed to become stewards and guardians of their environments. Our programs build community ownership of projects, long-term self-reliance, and ecosystem health, while addressing the root causes that lead to people-wildlife conflict.

Improving Local Economies

When the snow leopard preys upon livestock rather than native prey, herders sometimes resort to killing the snow leopard to alleviate the problem. In order to protect the snow leopard and change peoples’ attitudes so that it is seen as an asset rather than a threat, the Snow Leopard Conservancy works with herders to predator-proof their corrals, implement electronic light deterrents, and develop community-managed insurance programs. The Conservancy also promotes ecotourism initiatives such as Himalayan Homestays and Snow Leopard Photography Treks to reduce economic dependence of the raising of sheep and goats.

By enhancing livelihoods through sustainable activities like tourism and teaching people techniques to reduce livestock losses to predators, snow leopards can co-exist with humans in areas that are otherwise unprotected. Most of the population actually survives outside reserves. Therefore it is imperative to involve local people as part of the solution.

Monitoring

Monitoring the snow leopard is done using remote camera traps, fecal DNA sampling, and GPS–satellite radio collars to study movements and corridor analysis to find areas to target for conservation efforts. We do this in order to better understand snow leopard behaviour patterns, allowing us to target key areas as well as design and evaluate cost-effective programs.