Data from camera traps and GPS collars show endangered snow leopards dispersing to distant mountain ranges across stretches of deserted steppe, swimming across streams and rivers considered impossible to cross, and freely passing country borders.
Category: India
Pilot Survey Reveals Rich Biodiversity in Kinnaur, India
India team finds snow leopards and a healthy population of prey in a stretch of the Himalayas that hadn’t been surveyed before. Camera trap images also reveal brown bears, leopard cats, jungle cats and macaques.
To Protect Endangered Carnivores, We Must Also Protect Livestock
A conservation catch 22: Increasing the number wild prey animals is key for healthy snow leopard populations. But it doesn’t solve the problem of livestock predation – on the contrary.
A Snow Leopard Family Album
Follow one Indian snow leopard family through five years of camera trap images.
Protect Corrals, Protect Cats
When snow leopards attack livestock, conflicts with local communities are usually inevitable – and they don’t often end well for the cats! But many of these attacks can be prevented with a simple solution – predator-proof corrals and holding pens for sheep and goats!
India: New Village Joins Livestock Insurance Program
The community of Hemiya joins our livestock insurance program, and agrees to set aside a grazing-free reserve for wildlife.
A Village Mourns A Snow Leopard
When a wild snow leopard died of old age near the hamlet of Kibber, the community came together to pay their respects to the cat. Our local field coordinator, Kalzang Gurmet, shares this heart-warming story from his home village.
The Shen Story
How a women-led handicraft enterprise in Spiti is helping in the conservation of the elusive Snow Leopard.
Video: A New Year’s Snow Leopard Encounter
Our team in India’s Spiti Valley was treated to an extraordinary sighting of the elusive Ghost of the Mountain on a recent field visit. For Research Associate Ajay Bijoor, it was the first encounter with the cat he’s dedicated his life and career to. Read his account of an unforgettable day – and watch the amazing video footage the team managed to capture!
Wild Snow Leopard Prey Recovers Thanks to Reserve
18 years ago, we established our first grazing-free village reserve for wild snow leopard prey in partnership with the community of Kibber, India. Today, the area’s population of bharal, a wild sheep that’s among the snow leopard’s preferred prey species, is about four times higher than it was before the reserve was set up. Nine more of these reserves have since been started elsewhere in India. It’s been an important conservation initiative, but also an educational experience.