Nanda Devi, second highest mountain in India in Nanda Devi Reserve, now confirmed as snow leopard habitat.
Remote snow leopard camera shots shows the cats are moving higher up the mountains than ever before. More villagers are encroaching on snow leopard habitat and putting pressure on natural prey animals like wild sheep and goats. With less food and more people moving into their home territory snow leopards have moved from lower hilly regions to high mountain ranges of Himalayas in India.
Pictures captured by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) as part of the ‘Project Snow Leopard’ show there are no snow leopards at 3000m altitude.
Automatic cameras, called camera traps, trigger the camera as the cats move nearby. The WII project has identified 13,000 square kilometres as snow leopard habitat and installed cameras about 6 months ago in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve Park and Valley of Flowers.
Former Chief Caretaker of wild life, Anand Singh said, “Snow leopards are not getting proper food. The predators are finding it difficult to hunt their prey. If they are found at higher mountain ranges then it is for sure that they have shifted their base.”
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