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.
Category: Field Work
A Herder by Trade, a Conservationist by Calling
Some of the best conservationists are found among the rural communities who live side by side with the world’s endangered species. Davaa, a Mongolian herder, is such a local champion. Selected by his neighbors and friends as a community ranger, he now helps encourage sustainable practices and fosters tolerance among the community for the elusive snow leopard.
A Snow Leopard Family Album
Follow one Indian snow leopard family through five years of camera trap images.
Scientists Collar Three More Wild Snow Leopards in Mongolia
GPS collars will allow Snow Leopard Trust researchers to better understand the elusive species.
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!
Where There’s a Bear, There’s a Big Cat
PhD student Liu Mingyu is studying interactions between free-ranging dogs and native wildlife in China’s Qinghai province. During his work, he captured an extraordinary video of three wild snow leopards enjoying the afternoon sun. This is his story!
Back in the (Motorbike) Saddle
Field scientist Örjan Johansson is back in the South Gobi, the site of our long-term snow leopard study. Together with his colleague Gustaf Samelius, he’s attempting to collar snow leopards and ibex this spring to allow us to track their movements. This is his field diary.
Poachers Identified Thanks to Camera Trap
Our Kyrgyz partner community of Enilchek lost a conservation bonus they would have been due for 2015 because a young man from the village was seen on a camera trap photo guiding poachers into nearby the locally protected area. Now, the young man’s family has agreed to compensate their fellow community members for the lost bonus payment – and our team has started installing camera traps to catch more poachers in the act.
PPR outbreak in Mongolia a threat to snow leopards
A recent outbreak of PPR, a viral disease common among ruminants, has killed nearly a quarter of Mongolia’s population of saiga, an endangered antelope species. The disease has the potential to spread to key snow leopard prey species in the area as well.
A Glimpse of Angsai’s Snow Leopards
Our Regional Ecologist, Justine Shanti Alexander, had her first live snow leopard encounter on China’s Tibetan Plateau last month. She shares the unforgettable experience (and the video the team took) with us in this blog post.