Starting in 2014, the Snow Leopard Trust will partner with NCF India and the Himashal Pradesh Forest Department on a groundbreaking long-term snow leopard study in the Indian Himalayas.
The federal government of India has recently approved support for India’s first comprehensive and long-term radio-collaring project of snow leopards. This research will be taking place in the Spiti region, in the state of Himachal Pradesh; building off our long-term engagement in this landscape and advancing the many programs and studies that are already being carried out in this region.
Right now, we are in a very critical stage of preparation. While we have been working in Spiti for a long time, this is a new landscape for collaring, with lots of unknowns. Our first step is to explore to make sure that our equipment and methods fit this new setting.
We are very proud to take part in this collaborative project with Himachal Pradesh Forest Department and Indian NGO leader and longtime partner Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF). This project will complement our ongoing long-term collaring study in Mongolia, and should yield exciting compare/contrast data about snow leopard and prey behavior from two very different high altitude environments.
Very exciting news. India has been doing so well with snow leopard conservation in places like Spiti and Ladakh. Now to have collaring will take the research and data to a new level. I look forward to seeing lots of snow leopards from this part of the Himalayas.