Snow Leopard Blog

As we head into the 5^th year of our long-term ecological study, six snow leopards are currently wearing GPS tracking collars, including Aztai, the first cat we had ever collared.

Aztai, an older male snow leopard, was seen exploring the southeastern portion of his range just before he returned to the area that overlaps with the incredible snow leopard mother, Khashaa. Khashaa is presently travelling with two cubs in an area close to Aztai’s home range. One cub, named M9, is a young male we fitted with a collar late last year.

Lasya continues to prefer the northern-most region of her range, even though it is not a region typically inhabited by snow leopards. Recently, she did venture through a wide valley that separates two large mountain ranges, but only for a short time.

Anu, another female who is similar is age to Lasya, has been seen regularly patrolling her home range, where she continues to overlap with the male Khavar. Khavar spent 9 days within 1km of our base camp before making an uncharacteristic expedition 8km northeast of his home range where he made a sizeable kill.

After receiving a tremendous amount of support in 2011, we have big plans for this program in the new year. Stay tuned for more updates in February!

Remember that you can also symbolically adopt one of the wild snow leopards in Mongolia!

Photos Courtesy of Snow Leopard Trust/ Panthera. Anu Not Yet Pictured.

Thank you to everyone who has made a gift to the Snow Leopard Trust this year! We are very close to meeting our fundraising goal for 2011, and your contribution will help finance snow leopard conservation throughout next year.

If you haven’t made a donation yet, now is the perfect time! Your donation will allow us to expand snow leopard protection in all five countries where we work!

By giving today, you will be helping us:

• Manage key habitat in a newly gained protected area in Mongolia
• Expand our conservation efforts to five new valleys in Pakistan
• Reintroduce Snow Leopard Enterprises to Kyrgyzstan
• Grow our established programs in India and China

These exciting new opportunities are only possible because of the generous support of people like you! Thank you, and happy New Year from all of us here at the Snow Leopard Trust!

Thank you very much to the hundreds of donors from around the world who showed their support for snow leopards. We were challenged by five donors to raise $70,000 before the end of the year, and thanks to you we’ve met this incredible goal. Even better–all donations were matched. That’s right: you just helped raise, in total $140,000 to protect one of the most threatened big cats in the world. The holidays don’t get much merrier than that!

To see how your gifts contribute to snow leopard preservation, check out our newest video!

This Saturday, BBC World News will be airing a 30 minute special about Snow Leopard Enterprises as part of our first place prize from the World Challenge!

A BBC film crew met up with our Executive Director Brad Rutherford and Country Program Director Bayara in Mongolia this August to learn more about Snow Leopard Enterprises and meet some of our program participants.

Our special feature will bring you into the homes of the Mongolian herders who hand craft each of the items we sell. Offering a one-of-a-kind opportunity for the families we work with to share their perspective on the Snow Leopard Enterprise program as well as their efforts toward snow leopard conservation.

Visit this link to check your local listings and be sure to leave a comment to let us know what you think!

We are thrilled to announce that Snow Leopard Enterprises won the 2011 BBC World Challenge!

Supporters around the world came together to cast their votes for the preservation of this rare and beautiful big cat!

Your vote means that our flagship program, Snow Leopard Enterprises, will expand in Kyrgyzstan. This will bring more families into a conservation program that helps both people and wildlife alike. Your vote means that the millions of people across the globe will learn about the need to protect snow leopards. Because of you, snow leopards will have a safer, brighter future for generations to come.

We would never have come so far in the competition without your help. You took action on behalf of the endangered snow leopard, and made this unprecedented accomplishment a reality. Take a moment to share this success – the result of your efforts – with your friends and family! Thank you!