Cover of 'Irbis, the Snow Leopard' - the book by Oleg and Irina Loginov from Kazakhstan.

Today Darla Hillard, Education Director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy shares a review of the new book “Irbis, the Snow Leopard” by Oleg and Irina Loginov from Kazakhstan. Darla is the author of the amazing “Vanishing Tracks – four years among the Snow Leopards of Nepal”, the remarkable story of her and Rodney Jackson’s years of ground breaking snow leopard research.

Here Darla writes about Irina and Oleg’s book.

I met Oleg Loginov in summer 2011. We both were in Gorno-Altaisk, capital of Siberia’s Altai Republic, to attend the town’s first Snow Leopard Day festival. We were very impressed by the children from rural villages, who sang and danced on a stage in the town center. Each performance was a tribute to the beautiful endangered snow leopard, calling for conservation action, to ensure that Siberia’s “Silver Wonder” continues to roam the magnificent Altai-Sayan Mountains. What a great occasion, then, on which to receive a copy of IRBIS, The Snow Leopard, the book that Oleg and his wife, Irina, produced under the UNDP/GEF Biodiversity Conservation Program!

The beautiful mountains of Kazakhstan are snow leopard habitat where the Kazakhstan Snow Leopard Fund works to protect the endangered cats.

IRBIS is a gorgeous hardbound volume. At 8.5”x11” (21.5x28cm), the pages are large enough for stunning photos and paintings of snow leopards and the landscapes in which they live. Oleg knows snow leopards.  He worked with them at the Almaty Zoo, and he and Irina founded the nonprofit Snow Leopard Fund to educate the general public and leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) about Kazakhstan’s snow leopards. In addition, Oleg wrote the Conservation Strategy of the Snow Leopard in Kazakhstan, which was officially approved in August, 2011.

One of the many beautiful photos of snow leopards in the book.

In the chapter on the various groups working to protect snow leopards, Oleg presents a set of recommendations for actions that should be taken in the CIS countries.  I believe that the tourist, or other reader unfamiliar with the issues—a target group for this book—will appreciate this information, and knowing that positive steps can be taken.

The text for IRBIS was originally written in Russian, and the English translation isn’t perfect. But in my opinion the passion that Oleg and Irina pour into this volume far outweighs any errors.

A lovely children’s fairy tale by Irina, Spirits of the Sacred Mountain, is based on the indigenous Altai people’s worldview of the snow leopard.

Oleg chose photos that capture beautifully the spirit and force of these elusive big cats. He points out that most snow leopards are born under the sign of Taurus, since the females give birth between late April and early June. One trait of Taureans is a calm and predictable nature.  Oleg tells of Renat Minibayev, who went in January 2010 to visit his beekeeper friend in the mountains of Dzhungarsky on the boarder of China and Kazakhstan. Minibayev went on a ski walk to a nearby canyon; there he had an amazing encounter with a snow leopard. He took thirty photos, some from a distance of 1.5 meters. He said that over the time he and the cat watched each other, he fell in love.

That’s what Oleg and Irina hope for this book—that people will fall in love with snow leopards and join the fight to save them.

IRBIS, The Snow Leopard is available for a donation of $300 in support of the Snow Leopard Fund’s programs. Orders can be made by emailing the authors at irbisslc@yandex.kz.  Tax deductible donations (in the US)  earmarked for the book can be made via the Snow Leopard Conservancy, who will forward 100% of donations to the Snow Leopard Fund in Kazakhstan.

Dr Rodney Jackson, one of the world's foremost snow leopard researchers has been nominated a third time for the pretigious Indianapolis Prize for wildlife conservation. Go Rodney!

Dr Rodney Jackson, the first person to radio collar a wild snow leopard and director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy has been announced as a three-time finalist for the Indianapolis Prize, the annual $100,000 award for unique contribution to wildlife conservation.

Rodney has done and continues to do a huge job in protecting snow leopards in Central Asia. His focus is on research and community education especially promoting cross-boundary cooperation between snow leopard range countries. Snow leopards don’t understand country boundaries so its important for agencies to work together. “We see  again and again (that) a conservation approach of a single country here and there will not work long term. There needs to be cross-boundary cooperation, ” Rodney said.

Good luck Rodney, we hope third time lucky for you and the SLC! You desereve it!

Jigmet Dadul from the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust watching a female snow leopard in winter 2011. Jigmet is probably the most successful snow leopard tracker in all of the animals range countries. Photo by Sibylle Noras.

Jigmet Dadul from the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust (SLC-IT) has done it again! The group he took out in Hemis National Park in Ladakh (India ) with KarmaQuest travel had fantastic multiple snow leopard sightings. This wintertime trek has now had four years in a row of success in tracking and finding a snow leopard. It was this trek that I did last year where we were able to watch a female cat for 8 hours, a once in a life time experience that I’ll never forget.

Jigmet says of his success this year, “We did saw snow leopards 4 times, three sighting was quite far, one was for three hours. Rest two sighting was quite close from me, but I don’t have time to take pictures, I have to show the snow leopard to the group. Two sighting was in Husing Nullah, another one sighting was close to the camp, the last one in Rumbak gorge.”

Congratulations to Jigmet and all the team and everyone at SLC – IT and to Karma Quest. For anyone keen to to see wild snow leopards in their own habitat this is THE trek! The experience of this team and the success of the local villagers in this part of the Indian Himalayas in protecting snow leopards is outstanding. Together the conservationists and the villagers can just about guarantee a sighting at this time of year and that is a unique wildlife experience. KarmaQuest and SLC-IT will offer this trek again next year in February, so make sure you are a part of it, contact KarmaQuest.  (Update from May 2012 – The 2013 Winter trek is already full but there will probably be a second one so don’t hesitate to contact KarmaQuest.)

Technology now transmits a signal to researchers when a snow leopard is snared. This means the cats are reached very quickly by researchers and time the animals are captive while sedated and radio collared is shorter than ever before. Photo Panthera.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the poacher’s shoes” says Dr Tom McCarthy, Panthera’s Director of Snow Leopard Programs in a fascinating webinar called “The Science behind saving Central Asia’s Mountain Ghost”. Tom was talking about conservation programs where villagers promise not to harm snow leopards in return for support with selling crafts. A poacher did kill a cat in one village and the women lost their bonus and were furious with the poacher.

This is an hour long talk and worth ever minute of listening as Tom goes through a huge amount of information about snow leopards, their habitat, the threats facing them and the first ever long term study on snow leopards in Mongolia. “We do a lot of listening to people in snow leopard areas and there is no cookie cutter approach to this . What will work in Mongolia might not work in Pakistan or Bhutan.”

One of the most fascinating topics is the way the Mongolia program now traps snow leopards to put collars on them and the technology that alerts the researchers so the time the cats spend in the snare is very short compared to years ago.

Hear and see webinar here.

Amazing footage of two wild snow leopards sniffing out all the prey that come into their territory has been filmed as part of a survey in Bhutan’s newest national park. The film shows a number of cats scent marking around a particular rock and then all the prey animals that came to the rock in the days after. It shows Tibetan wolf, threatened Himalayan serow (a wild goat), musk deer and a number of blue sheep. All of these animals are prey for the snow leopard living in Wangchuck Centennial Park in Bhutan.
Field biologists from the Government of Bhutan and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) captured over 10,000 images during the camera trap survey. “The findings are phenomenal as these are the first snow leopard images recorded in Wangchuck Centennial Park,” said WWF’s Dr. Rinjan Shrestha, who led the survey team. “It suggests that the network of protected areas and corridors is helping to link local snow leopard populations, which will be invaluable to ensure long-term persistence of snow leopards in the region.”
Read more here.

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