In the spirit of co-creating solutions, Buren and our science team began a collaborative effort to design an expandable protective collar for growing foals to wear. The idea is that the collar will deter a predator, like a snow leopard, from administering the fatal neck or throat bite during an attack.
As the project progressed, we also tested a commercial collar that has shown promise in protecting horses from wolves in France and common leopards in South Africa. This advanced collar features blinking lights and emits high-frequency sounds when the horse makes sudden movements. The collar’s stimuli continuously change to prevent predators from becoming accustomed to them.
While still in the testing and development phase, this project has already shown encouraging results. We’re pleased to report that Buren’s foal survived the season thanks to some initial prototypes. If proven effective long-term, these protective measures could become a crucial component of our conservation efforts.
Reducing livestock losses is vital for snow leopard conservation. By addressing this challenge, we hope to foster greater community acceptance and tolerance of snow leopards and wolves. This pilot project exemplifies our commitment to developing practical, locally-driven solutions that benefit both wildlife and local communities.
And now for the Citizen Science portion of this project. We thought it would be fun to invite you to step into the creative engineering space. What would you design to protect a growing young horse from snow leopards? This could be an engaging activity to do with kids too! Your invention will need to use items readily available in remote snow leopard habitat. Think outside the box. Sketch your design. And add any explanation you think will help describe your idea.
You can email a description and/or a sketch or photo of your idea to connect@snowleopard.org using Collar Prototype in the subject line for the chance to be featured on our social media channels. You can also share your concepts in the comments. There are no bad ideas in a brainstorm!
Remember, ingenuity and community partnerships are central to all we do. We’re excited to see what you come up with.
This story ran in our print newsletter issue number #146. Thanks to those who already sent in their creative ideas!
Acknowledgments: Thank you to David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation for their long-term conservation partnership.
Wishing you great success with your protective collar. Sorry I’m not an engineer but I was a nurse for 28 year & 95%was as a hospital nurse.
👍 Helping with problems in real-time is part of what makes it so important for SLT team members to be in the field.
My background is in X-ray & nuclear medicine. I don’t have a clue as what would work, and I am sure there are engineers as well as tech people who could come up with some ideas. Prayers for lots of innovative ideas to protect all animals.