Snow Leopard Blog

Thank you to everyone who helped us meet our goal!

This incredible accomplishment was only made possible by the generosity of our 260 newest donors and everyone who helped us spread the word! Not only were we able to meet our $13,000 goal, but because we did it by our April 30th deadline, every dollar has been DOUBLED!

This means that $26,000 will go to support conservation programs like Snow Leopard Enterprises, where impoverished families earn additional income and pledge to protect the snow leopards living nearby.

We cannot thank our new supporters enough for taking the leap and making their first contribution!

On April 18th, our field researcher extraordinaire Orjan once again successfully captured a healthy snow leopard. We are excited to see where this cat’s home range is located and what size area he patrols.

The special opportunity of naming this cat – the 10th male to be part of the study – was auctioned off at our Fall Event. The winner is a board member of the Snow Leopard Trust, and he has chosen to name the cat in honor of his granddaughter Catalina, who was born late last year. The Greek origin of the name Catalina means “Pure” and this new snow leopard will be named after the Mongolian translation. We are proud to welcome “Ariun” into our study in honor of Catalina and her family.

Thanks to Orjan for his 36th safe capture of a snow leopard and to Catalina, who now has a beautiful namesake roaming the mountains of Mongolia.

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A new snow leopard has been fitted with a GPS tracking collar in the South Gobi region of Mongolia! As part of our long-term ecological study, we will follow this cats movements for the next year. Field researcher, Orjan Johansson, shares the experience of meeting his 16th wild snow leopard:

Mood in camp got instantly better when the siren started and the LED under “Trap alarm” lit up early evening. We rushed to the ATVs and got to the snare about 50 minutes after it had been triggered. I can’t describe the relief when I looked over a hill and saw a snow leopard lying on the other side. It was extremely windy and he had not heard us coming. The cat crawled back against the wall and lied down looking at us.

We went up to about ten meters from him and except for his eyes, he didn’t move a whisker. I didn’t want to shoot because the wind was coming from the side and the darts can easily fly more than a meter of course in such strong wind. So I took a few steps toward the cat, when I was about seven meters from him he barred all his teeth in a huge grin, saying “that is close enough”, still lying down. So I backed one step and he calmed down again and went back to just glaring at me. Had to wait for the wind to calm down for a second and then shot. We left the site and when we came back a few minutes later the cat was asleep in the same position.

Except for the wind the collaring was uneventful. It is quite difficult to gather all measurements, collect all samples and monitor vital signs when you have to put rocks on all the equipment to keep it from flying away. The cat is a new male (obviously), he weighed a little more than 44 kg and we think that he is 3-4 years old. It will be interesting to see if he is the new dominant male here. Shonkhor, the old dominant male in this range, died in summer 2011.

Now, we are eagerly waiting for the females. Pretty much the same as a lot of other guys on a Friday evening…

UPDATE: We need less than $360 to reach our New Donor Match goal of $13,000! If you make a first-time donation or adoption purchase before April 30th, you will help us meet our goal and every donation will be doubled!

Are you wondering how far will your support of snow leopard protection will go? When you support the Snow Leopard Trust, you are ensuring that snow leopards are protected in important areas of 5 countries where snow leopards live. Together, these five nations contain 75% of the world’s population of wild snow leopards. In each country, research, education and protection programs work in tandem to better protect these cats.

China: We are working with monks from the Gongsa Monastery, who are helping us with research and get our conservation message reach many people in the area.

India: 10 villages are participating in conservation programs—either through livestock insurance programs or by identifying grazing-free reserves. And education programs are helping change attitudes towards snow leopards.

Kyrgyzstan: Last year, staff found that 18 cats inhabit the study area in the Sarychat-Ertash Reserve, and that poaching by outside hunters is a growing threat.  Now, the Snow Leopard Enterprises handicrafts program has re-initiated work with 3 communities, and reached out to 2 more.

Mongolia: The Snow Leopard Enterprises program is working with 260 households to make handicrafts.  A pilot livestock insurance program, modeled after the program in India, has engaged 32 households to limit impacts from snow leopard’s taking wildlife.

Pakistan: The Snow Leopard Enterprises program and Livestock Vaccination programs continue to engage households in conservation. Last year, Researchers explored a new area for work, Gilgit-Baltisan, conducting surveys of over 9,000 households about threats to the cats.