A beautiful snow leopard sleeps in her wild home in the Indian Himalayas. Photo Sibylle Noras & Jigmet Dadull.

Who doesn’t?

Earlier this year I had the time of my life watching a snow leopard in the wild in Ladakh, India. I went on a fabulous trek with KarmaQuest and the Snow Leopard Conservancy to the Himalayan mountains in Hemis National Park and with the support and professional tracking of Jigmet Dadul and his team we found a magnificent female cat on our 7th day and spent the entire day observing her.

Snow leopards are rare and elusive; many biologists have studied them for decades and only caught a glimpse or two of the cats. So believe me it is an amazing experience and a privilege to see one in the wild. This trip is being offered again in February (6th to 22nd 2012) and my friend from KarmaQuest, Wendy Lama tells me there are still two places left to join this group.

Don’t miss this opportunity to see a snow leopard in its own wild habitat and contribute to snow leopard conservation in Ladakh. Led by a Ladakhi snow leopard expert wildlife spotter, assisted by trained local scouts and a high-powered telescope in camp, you’ll have the best set of eyes prowling the landscape for you. You’ll also stay with a Ladakhi family in a Himalayan Homestay where you get to share the local way of life, meeting villagers and sharing their food and swapping stories.

Part of the trip cost is a donation (in many cases tax deductible) which directly supports snow leopard conservation in Ladakh through the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust. The folks at the SLCIT are hard working and dedicated and passionate. Its due to their work with ecotourism development programs that benefit and inspire the Ladakhi people to protect snow leopards that make it possible for the cats to thrive in this part of the Himalayas today.

If you’ve always had a dream to see a snow leopard in the wild, go with this group. Each winter group for the last four years has seen a cat, so without a doubt this will be the best chance you’ll get.

Sad passing of Dr Pralad Yonzon, founder of the Resource Himalaya Foundation. Photo ESC Nepal.

Himalayan conservationists are mourning the untimely death of Dr. Pralad Yonzon of Nepal , the founder of Resources Himalaya Foundation, and the team leader of Environmental Graduates in Himalaya (EGH).  Dr Yonzon was a Fullbright scholar and designed many protected areas in the fragile Himalayas.  In a 2005 interview he spoke of his snow leopard work in Bhutan. “I usually do wildlife survey and design national parks. Design in the sense, we are trying to see whether the range allocated for wildlife is good enough or not. We did the survey for tigers and snow leopards in Bhutan. In Nepal, you cannot think of tigers and snow leopards in one national park, but in Bhutan you do.”

Dr Yonzon, was a keen champion of snow leopard conservation throughout his long career and he was also the primary author of Nepal’s first Snow Leopard Action Plan in 2003.

As well as his research on wildlife in the Himalayan region, Dr. Pralad Yonzon was also the first president of the Society for Conservation Biology – Asia Section.

He described the work of the Resources Himalaya Foundation as, “we are outspoken and we want the coming generations to know 30 years, 100 years later, that there were a bunch of people who spoke at that time and they knew what they were talking about; that they were intelligent, experts and they knew about their land and people.”

Dr Tom McCarthy of  Panthera said in a message to the Snow Leopard Network “Dr Yonzon will be sorely missed by his many colleagues and friends.”

Dr Alan Rabinowitz CEO Panthera. Photo NY Daily News

Congratulations to Panthera CEO Dr. Alan Rabinowitz who has been awarded the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award for Conservation at this year’s Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. Launched in 1991, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival attracts hundreds of international leaders in science, conservation, broadcasting and media.

Dr Rabinowitz is recognised as one of the world’s leading field biologists and is an expert on big wild cats. He joins Dr George Schaller, one of the world’s leading snow leopard researchers  who won the Lifetime Achievement award in 2003.

Panthera was started in 2006 and develops and implements global conservation strategies for the largest, most imperilled cats – tigers, lions, jaguars, cheetahs and snow leopards.

A surprising announcement that the BBC wants to close down its 4-year-old Wildlife Conservation Fund, which has raised nearly $5 million for endangered species including snow leopards.

The fund has raised the money mainly from fans of their fabulous wildlife documentaries, financing over 80 programs around the world. David Attenborough’s Planet series (in the Mountain epsiode) had magnificent footage of a snow leopard stalking a wild sheep to feed it’s cub. This was a world first and often when I talk to people about snow leopards they say “oh I saw one on David Attenborough!”

It was great that the BBC not only bought the lives of endangered species into our living rooms but also committed to fund raising and action to help these animals. Sadly that seems now to be under threat as part of cost cutting.

But a massive campaign has started to get them to reconsider. You can join conservationists, researchers and ordinary people who care – sign a petition at Save the BBC Wildlife Fund.

Oleg and Irina Lognov's book Irbis - Snow Leopard to support the work of snow leopard conservation in Kazakhstan.

We haven’t written much about the snow leopards of Kazakhstan in this blog as there has been little conservation or research work done there in the past. This is rapidly changing.

“IRBIS – The Snow Leopard” about Kazakhstan’s rare snow leopards has just been published in English. Written by biologists Oleg and Irina Loginov this book was previously only available in Russian. It is a major initiative of Kazakhstan’s “Snow Leopard Fund” (Ust Kamenogorsk) with the financial support of the UN (UNDP/GEF).  The snow leopard is an important symbol in the history of the country and now efforts are being made to help its survival in the Kazakhstan part of the Altai-Sayan ecoregion which has for many years been known to be snow leopard habitat but has had few conservation or community development efforts focused there.

The beautiful mountains of Central Asia, snow leopard habitat in Kazakhstan

Oleg says, “In Kazakh public consciousness the snow leopard is often called “The Master of Celestial Mountains”, and it is a predator never attacking people. Snow leopard protection is still insufficient – more than 90 % of habitats of a snow leopard are not covered by especially protected natural territories.” Oleg believes snow leopards require more protected reserves in Kazakhstan. “All places of snow leopard habitat in mountains, as a rule, have no intensive economic activities, therefore can quite become extensive natural parks or game reserves.”

Oleg says the book has been written with great emotion and “is entertaining and accessible to the widest audience. It can be used as manual for schoolboys and students, and for the foreign tourists, wishing to learn more about a live symbol of “Celestial Mountains”, and in general for people loving the nature.”

The unique photos of a wild snow leopard in the book were taken in Almaty area in Dzungarian Ala-Tau (Kazakhstan) by Renat Minibaev. There are also beautiful snow leopard portraits by Raphael Kettsian from Ekaterinburg (Russia), and also water colour drawings by Victor Bakhtin, Victor Pavlushin and Oleg Loginov. Irina Loginov’s fairy tale ”Spirits of Sacred Mountain” is also included in the edition, illustrated with drawings by the author.

Irbis is the Russian and Kazakh word for snow leopard.

Congratulations Oleg and all those concerned and we wish you well with your efforts to protect the snow leopards of Kazakhstan.

The beautiful Book is a limited edition publication available for $300. Contact Oleg – irbisslc@yandex.ru

Stunning Altai Mountains, snow leopard habitat in southern Russia. Photo by Sibylle

It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since I was in Altai mountains, Siberia, southern Russia, searching for snow leopards with a team from Biosphere Expeditions. We were out in this beautiful mountain range for two weeks and saw beautiful birds and groups of ibex. But no snow leopard sign. The team that is there now has been luckier! This report from Andy Stonach.
“On the first day of our Altai Snow Leopard trek we went to the top of Kara Gyem pass. It started off cold and wet, but then turned snowy. Well, after only about an hour of surveying, we found a very clear trail of guess what – snow leopard! The trail was around 10 days old and there were perhaps 40 individual tracks in the mud, mostly very clear Not content with this, our intrepid team then found a second snow leopard trail in the snow, and fresher, much fresher, probably made the night before we arrived; fantastic! Lunch amongst an amazing display of flowers and then watching two groups of Siberian ibex rounded off the day. Doesn’t get any better than that!”

Great news guys! So glad to hear that snow leopards are still out in these beautiful mountains.

This videos was shot during the snow leopard survey in upper Dolpo, Mid- Western Himalayas of Nepal. The snow leopard was killed and thrown into a cave to take revenge for it killing village sheep. Unfortunately where humans and these rare cats live so close together snow leopards do sometimes attack village livestock and villagers defend their livelihoods. For this reason it’s important we support the compensation and insurance schemes that organisations like Snow Leopard Trust and Snow Leopard Conservancy set up in these areas of snow leopard habitat. When villagers know they will get money for their dead sheep they are less likely to kill the snow leopards.

Late last year I was lucky to get to the Wildlife Conservation Network annual event in San Francisco and met many people from WCN and  supporters. It was an inspiring day. The WCN supports amazing wildlife conservationists like Iain Douglas Hamilton of Save the Elephants, Laurie Marker of Cheetah Conservation Fund and Rodney Jackson, founder of the Snow Leopard Conservancy and others. WCN provides financial support but also an opportunity to get together and share knowledge. Despite working with different animals and in different parts of the world most conservationists share similar problems like poaching, habitat loss, community education and so on.

The WCN’s 2010 Annual report, now available, has stories from last year’s activities, the highs and lows of working to save endangered animals around the globe.

Dr Rodney Jackson of the Snow Leopard Conservancy said -“I’m so grateful to have been associated with WCN from the day we formed the Snow Leopard Conservancy. We are celebrating our 10-year anniversary with donor-partners who share our passion and commitment and WCN has played a crucial role in bringing us together. But WCN hasn’t only provided us with the resources to make conservation effective; our personal interactions with the staff, volunteers, donors and other conservationists inspire us every bit as much as the rare creature we work with. ”

Two snow leopard pelts found with poachers in Mustang, Nepal. Story and Photo Kathmadu Post.

A shocking story greeted the readers of Kathmandu Post in Nepal  yesterday. It showed this photo of two snow leopard pelts. Two people have been arrested in Mustang in Nepal (where it is illegal to kill the cats) with the hides of the two snow leopards. One is the owner of the Paradise Guest House in Marpha village and the other his employee. There will be further investigations held in the nearby town of Pokhara.

Various conservation agencies are working with many communities in Everest regions and other areas in Nepal to educate them about snow leopards in Nepal.

Kamal Thapa, a field biologist with many years experience working with snow leopards and Research Officer with WWF Nepal, one such conservation agency says, “This report itself is not good news despite the continual conservation effort on snow leopard in Nepal Himalaya. Such issue clearly indicates that our focus on snow leopard conservation is not adequate. Hence, to combat this issue we need to work together specially with local people of Himalaya.”

Hopefully this sad example will serve to educate  people and increase conservation support to keep the snow leopards of Nepal alive.

News story and photo from Kathmandu Post 30/05/11

The BBC Wildlife Fund (BBCWF) today launched a program to protect snow leopards across Asia with a donation of $90,000. The BBCWF is teaming up with the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) and Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) to empower local communities in conservation programs like environmental education, community‐based wildlife monitoring, anti‐poaching programs. Co-operation amongst snow leopard countries at the governmental level is also planned.

“This is the first large, multi‐country project of its kind for snow leopards,” says Dr. Charudutt Mishra, Trustee of NCF and Science and Conservation Director of the Snow Leopard Trust. It’s a huge leap forward for the species.”  Snow leopard conservation lags behind big campaigns like those set up for tigers, but Dr. Mishra hopes this project will change that. “There is no doubt that across Central Asia’s mountains the endangered snow leopard faces immediate threats to its survival. The BBCWF’s funding makes it possible for us to address the threats as never before.”

Dr Charu Mishra. Photo SLT.

The BBC Wildlife Fund was founded by the famous BBC Natural History Unit (NHU) in May 2007. Millions of folks across the globe have watched their wonderful wildlife documentaries for many years, including the famous snow leopard hunt scene in the Mountains episode of Planet Earth. While producing outstanding films about wildlife the Unit witnessed alarming declines in the populations of many of the animals filmed. Their motto is – “After 50 years of watching the natural world on TV it’s time to give something back” and decided as well as filming, they wanted to address the plight of wildlife. The BBCWF first live appeal program, Saving Planet Earth, raised 2 million pounds in a year.