At least 6 snow leopards found on the photos of camera traps just retrieved from remote Ravmeddara Gorge in Tajikistan. Photo Panthera.

Camera traps to collect snow leopard photos have now become routine but I can only imagine the excitement when researchers check what they’ve got on the cameras they retrieve after months out in the wild valleys and mountains.

A few days ago camera traps were retrieved in the mountains of Tajikistan after being set between November last year and April this year in the remote and beautiful Ravmeddara Gorge. And researchers were elated at what they found. Photos of six individual snow leopards and ibex, the wild goat that is good snow leopard prey.

Since 2008 traditional hunters have been supported by the Nature Protection Team, a Tajik NGO and the German government to establish community rangers. Their role was to stop the rampant poaching of ibex that had been going on.

Ibex, wild goat, photographed on camera trap in remote mountains of Tajikistan. Researchers found that the ibex population has increased since local people have become rangers and helped stop poaching. Photo Panthera.

Stefan Michel, wildlife expert of CIM-program with the Nature Protection Team, said “The evidence of the presence of such a large number of snow leopards shows that local people have successfully brought the ibex population back to a size which can support several snow leopard families.”

Now researchers know there are over 400 ibex here.

Munavvar Alidodov and Khalil Karimov, Nature Protection Team, who just came back from retrieving the traps, said “the rangers are very proud of the results of their work and hope that the presence of snow leopards and ibex will attract tourists. Income from future regulated hunting of ibex will support their conservation activities and the social-economic development of the villages involved.”

A snow leopard cub that fell off a steep cliff in private nature park in Tajikistan. Photo S. Michel.

A sad news story from Tajikistan reminds us of the dangers snow leopards face from their harsh habitat. Stefan Michel, from the Nature Protection Team in Tajikistan, found a dead snow leopard cub in a private conservancy park  near the border of Afghanistan.  The cub had fallen to its death. Michel noted that a markhor, (wild snow leopard prey) had also fallen to its death nearby.

When we see pictures of snow leopards, wild sheep and wild goats running up and down the incredibly steep cliffs of these mountains we marvel at their amazing agility. But sometimes the cliffs are just too steep and in this case the young cub had not yet learned how to negotiate them safely.

Steep cliffs in Tajikistan where the snow leopard cub fell and died. Photo S. Michel.

However the good news from this area is that snow leopards seem to be flourishing due to good prey stock and protection from humans in this private conservancy.

Panthera's Dr Tom McCarthy meeting local people in Tajikistan. Photo Panthera.

I wrote recently about meeting Dr Tom McCarthy, Panthera’s Snow Leopard Program Director in Seattle. Tom had only been home a short while since returning from a one month trip to two snow leopard habitat areas, India and in Tajikistan. In both countries he researched snow leopard populations and spent time building Panthera’s partnerships with local conservation organisations and communities. He documented his travels in a series of beautiful videos, “Trekking with Tom” which you can see on the Panther website.

I especially liked this one, where Tom is interviewing an older hunter who talks about not killing snow leopard despite the fact that one had gotten to his livestock herd and killed 150 of them 45 years ago. It shows a remarkably tolerant attitude towards an animal that threatened the old hunter’s livelihood, but also hope that people and snow leopards can survive together.

Dr. Tom McCarthy Interviews Villager in Tajikistan from Panthera Cats on Vimeo.

See more photos of Tom’s travels in Tajikistan.

Where is Tajikistan?

Children in Tajikistan, Central Asia. A small country with endangered snow leopard population. Photo FFI.

Many snow leopard range countries are not well known by most of us and Tajikistan is no exception. I knew nothing about it before I became interested in snow leopards, but yes, they do have some. How many is not exactly known. So today I’ve added a page of information on snow leopard conservation projects in that small landlocked mountainous country in Central Asia. Check it out here.