Beautiful rug, handbag and the 2011 calendar from the Snow Leopard Trust.

Today my parcel of Christmas goodies arrived from the lovely folks at the Snow Leopard Trust (SLT) and what a wonderful collection it is. Each year I get a few of these beautiful things to go under our tree for friends and family. This year there’s a stunning handmade rug and very pretty handbag from the talented women of Mongolia. The felt and handiwork has already been admired by friends and family who were over for a lunch today. And the 2011 SLT calendar got the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ going – a dozen absolutely beautiful photos of our favorite cats, this one is not to be missed.

My Aussie terrier Tashi with Snow Leopard Conservancy books and cards

And a reminder for you all thinking about Christmas gifts that the hard working team at the Snow Leopard Conservancy also have some beautiful gifts for sale. I bought a few of these on my recent visit to them in San Francisco and here are some of their books and cards being admired by my little Aussie terrier, Tashi. She has good taste in Christmas presents and will help me chose who gets what.One of my favorites is Darla Hillard’s fabulous book “Vanishing Tracks”, about Rodney Jackson and Darla’s ground breaking snow leopard research work in Nepal in the 1980’s. I recommend it as a great read for wildlife enthusiasts over the holidays.

So good blog readers, remember snow leopards for your Christmas this year. These presents are not only beautiful and will bring a smile to your family and friends but also help snow leopard research and conservation. Of course you can also give donations as gifts in the form of snow leopard adoptions. You can shop here at the Snow Leopard Conservancy and here at the Snow Leopard Trust. Happy Shopping

Snow leopard Kamala undergoing world first stem cell operation at Taronga Zoo in Sydney Australia. Photo Marco del Grande.

Kamala, the five year old female snow leopard at Taronga Zoo in Sydney Australia, has an arthritic knee that hasn’t been responding to medical treatment. Zoo vets just completed an operation to remove fat from her stomach, which was then processed in a lab and injected into Kamala’s right hind knee joint. The injected sample contains a range of cells, which can decrease inflammation and secrete growth factors promoting tissue healing,

Kamala receiving injection of the stem cells into her arthritic knee. Photo Marco del Grande

It’s hoped this will prevent further degeneration of the knee. Knowledge of care and breeding of captive snow leopards in zoos has become very sophisticated and they can live up to 20 years in the zoo environment, so Kamala is still considered a young cat.

Surgeon Dr Tony Black, of the Veterinary Specialist Centre in North Ryde, and hospital veterinarian, Kimberly Vinette Herrin decided to try the therapy, which has been used successfully on domestic dogs and cats.

Dr Tony Black with Kamala's stomach fat. Photo by Marco del Grande.

”Because she is such a young animal we want to try to slow down the progress of the arthritis. We want to give her the best quality of life and alleviate any pain or discomfort,” Dr Vinette Herron said.

Kamala is also leading the way for humans in this operation. According to The Age story “seven people have also had the therapy, and a double-blind clinical trial of 40 people in Sydney is about to start. ”  Story by Deborah Smith.

I’m not sure the drinking habitats of snow leopards in the wild have ever been studied but four engineers, lead by Dr Roman Stocker from MIT, studied cat drinking after he became enthralled with the drinking style of his companion cat, Cutta Cutta. Because cats lap water very quickly the human eye hasn’t been able to follow exactly what’s happening.

Cutta Cutta inspired research into the way cats drink by his owner Dr Roman Stocker. Photo by Pedro Reis.

But the researchers used high-speed photography to show how it’s done. They then tested the idea with a machine that mimicked a cat’s tongue, using a smooth glass disk at the end of a piston as the tip of the tongue. While dogs actually scoop water into their mouths, cats it turns out, only touch the surface of the liquid with the very smooth tip of the tongue and then pull a column of liquid into the mouth, very, very quickly, snap!

After the researchers did the work on domestic cats they also watched lions and jaguars at a zoo in Boston to confirm the technique. From this can we assume snow leopards drink  the same way? Interesting to know more – how often do they drink, under what sort of conditions? Or do they lick snow?

New York Times interview video.

Today’s Kathmandu Post reports good news that the number of snow leopards has increased in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) in eastern Nepal, where Mt Kanchenjunga, the world’s third largest mountain rises on the Indian border. Ananda Gautam reports –

Snow leopard numbers have increased in Kanchenjunga region of Nepal, prime snow leopard habitat where villagers are taking part in livestock insurance scheme. Photo Wikipedia

“The population of snow leopard inside KCA has gone up with the introduction of livestock insurance programs that indemnify domesticated animals against the attack of the large wild cat.

KCA management had launched the insurance program two years ago to discourage villagers from killing snow leopards in the name of protecting their cattle. The campaign was successful and effective in limiting snare-deaths of snow leopards, listed as an endangered species.

“We don’t have any incident of a snow leopard being killed these days which is a good news for these animals,” said Himali Chundak, president of Snow Leopard Conservation Committee.

This WWF photo shows a tiger snared in Malaysia. In the past similar snares have been used on snow leopards in Nepal.

Currently, there are at least 45 snow leopards in KCA. The last year’s census had put the animal’s population at 32.

“The growth in the population of snow leopard is definitely due to the insurance policy, no doubt about it,” said Sujit Kumar Shrestha, manager of Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project. Earlier, villagers used to set up snares to capture and kill these protected wild cats to exact revenge for killing their cattle.

The conservation project had initially established a revolving fund of Rs. 1.2 million (US$25,000) to start the livestock program. Livestock owners had contributed Rs. 55 (US$1.25) for each number of animals they owned. Under the program, a villager is entitled to receive Rs. 2,500 (US$50) if a snow leopard killed his cattle.

Introduced only at Ghunsa region in the beginning, the program was later adopted in all the areas where snow leopards are found.

“The idea was very effective and the villagers were really cooperative. This helped us a lot to conserve snow leopards,” Shrestha said.

Happy 2nd birthday Saving Snow Leopards Blog

Wow, its been a busy year for Saving Snow Leopards Blog. There’s been lots of blogging and lots of travelling and best of all – meeting wonderful committed snow leopard researchers, conservationists and blog readers. I’ve found the snow leopard conservation community to be made up of inspirational people.  Many of you spend months and years in the field away from families, in remote, harsh conditions. During this time there’s no coming home from the office to a nice glass of wine and a warm fire for you, like most of us do after a days work.

You are all doing this for the love of these cats and to help the communities and the ecosystem supporting them.

I’ve met multimillionaires who are giving time and money to save snow leopards. I know you could be playing golf or sailing on yachts instead! (Seriously!) And I’ve met people who are spending every spare cent on this work and living in frugal happiness. My hat off to you all, and more power to you!

And a big thanks to the tens of thousand of Blog visitors and readers. Many  have been generous in their support and comments. I know many of you are doing more than just reading here. You are regularly donating to snow leopard conservation organisations, buying craft products that provide income to villagers and also talking about snow leopards to your friends and family.

And the kids that are writing to me, doing school projects on snow leopards – to you all, I say, please keep it up, you are the future and you’re all making a difference for our beautiful snow leopards.

And where to for the Blog over the next year? Well, I’ve been reflecting on directions and content and while there’ll be more of the same, I’m also going to start a “Guest Blog” on a regular basis. I know readers would love to hear more from researchers in the field and that’s what I’m hoping to do. Please stay tuned and thanks again for all your support in saving snow leopards – I know they appreciate it

Altai mountains, snow leopard habitat in Russia. Photo by Sibylle

Following up from my trip to the Altai Mountains this July I found out Rodney Jackson from the Snow Leopard Conservancy visited the area in August and trained some local residents from Inegen and staff from the Altaisky Nature Reserve to do snow leopard counts in the Argut River valley. This beautiful part of Russia still has a snow leopard population but little is known about the size of that population or their movement. Rodney trained the team to use the Reconyx RapidFire and HyperFire cameras and they installed seven cameras along the main snow leopard transit routes. This month there’ll be more camera traps purchased with financial assistance of  Panthera and the Altai Assistance Project.

Reconyx camera trap and reader. Photo by Sibylle

WWF Russia is also involving local communities of the Koch Agach region, where our July Altai snow leopard project team went regularly for supplies. I like the idea of local involvement. While research is important it must be done at the same time as education and antipoaching efforts. The approach by WWF is to get local people involved in conservation and rare species monitoring, that is, animals like snow leopards and their prey species the wild argali sheep. Trained teams will remove illegal snares and traps, as well as educate their fellow locals on issues relating to nature conservation.

After much searching one of our Altai snow leopard research team finally found an Altai felt souvenir with snow leopard motif. Photo by Sibylle

While in Altai I searched high and low for souvenir items with snow leopard motifs. In fact it was a task I asked the entire team to help me with, but after 2 weeks of 10 people looking we found only one. Birgit, our eagle eyed Austrian team member found a felt souvenir with a jolly woman selling at the edge of the road one day.

So I’m happy to hear about a recent workshop on felt making organized by Fund of Sustainable Development of Altai (FSDA) with the support of UNDP/GEF Project in Kosh – Agach. Felt making has been less popular in recent times but it could provide a good income for women especially if ecotourism is fostered and people want souvenirs. The felt teachers are not only teaching the craft but also encouraging the women to use snow leopard and argali motifs, thereby educating tourists about local wildlife. I’m hoping next time I go to Altai these lovely items will be everywhere.

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?

The Red Panda is listed as 'vulnerable' by the IUCN Endangered Species List, which means numbers are declining rapidly. It shares habitat with endangered snow leopard in Nepal. Red Panda skins are still being poached and sold in the capital, Kathmandu. Photo Wikipedia.

The Himalayan Times (from Kathmandu, Nepal) wrote in its editorial today that the story of a local man apprehended this week trying to sell three Red Panda skins in Kathmandu, “highlights how poaching of such an endangered animal is on the rise..and points to the laxity of conservation attempts. It is not only Red Panda that is facing threats from poachers but other animals like snow leopard, tigers, rhinoceros, black bears and such are constantly being targeted for their skins, bones and body organs which fetch a heavy price. The financial lure has made many people go for wildlife fully armed while the law enforcement agency has a tough time dealing with them.

With the political instability continuing in the country, the maintenance of law and order has become a problem on the one hand, while on the other hand poaching has increased. This does not augur well for the conservation of the flora and fauna of the country. At this pace, many of the endangered animals and birds will become extinct soon.” Story here.

The Red Panda shares snow leopard habitat in the high mountains of the Himalayas.  The editorial is a timely call on government agencies in Nepal to act before time runs out for its endangered species like snow leopards and red Panda.

Teacher Beth with first grade student and her drawing of a snow leopard

While I was in Seattle the last few weeks to meet with snow leopard conservationists I got an invitation that was too good to refuse. Beth, the owner of the B and B I stayed at, is a friendly primary school teacher and she invited me to give a talk to her first graders on snow leopards.

Well, it was an absolute joy, 29 bouncing energetic 7 year olds asking so many questions I thought my head would burst. Their eyes were glued to the photos I showed and when Beth asked them to draw the cats we got some amazing drawings.

Three happy boys with snow leopard drawings

Facts like the cats tail length and the length they can jump were met with squeals of delight and came out in lots of the drawings. It was really interesting to see the snow leopard through these very young eyes.

“I’ve got at least half the class wanting to be snow leopard conservationists when they grow up” Beth said to me later.

Young first grader proudly displaying her snow leopard drawings

It was an unexpected event but I had a great time with the kids and Beth. I’m sure I’ll remember it for a long time. See more photos here.