WWF summarizes research on the potential snow leopard habitat in the northeastern part of South-Chu Ridge and Southern Ridge Chikhacheva (Altai Republic), performed by members of the Altai Nature Reserve with the support of WWF in the monitoring program
In Russian: http://wwf.ru/news/article/8806
http://www.care2.com/news/member/100041282/2991493
20 October 2011
English.news.cn 2011-10-21 19:29:51
IRKUTSK, Russia, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) — Russian scientists started Friday an expedition to track the endangered snow leopards in southern Siberia, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
A research team will travel to the Altai-Sayan mountainous region to collect data on the snow leopard population and its habitat range.
This is the third phase of the expedition “On the Trail of Snow Leopards.” The results will be presented in late November.
In 2010, Russia launched a five-year program to study and monitor the snow leopard population in southern Siberia.
Under the program, a reserve will be set up in the western Sayan region for the conservation of the snow leopard.
The snow leopard is a rare and quickly vanishing animal, which ranks as Category 1 — critically endangered — on Russia’s list of threatened species. The number of snow leopards in Russia was 150 to 200 in 2002. The number might have been further reduced as a result of poaching.
Editor: Wang Guanqun
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-10/21/c_131205222.htm
Survival of snow leopards endangered: expert
English.news.cn 2011-10-17 23:50:51
ULAN BATOR, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — Poaching, mining and invasion of herders are threatening the survival of the snow leopard, one of the world’s most endangered animals, an official of the World Wildlife Fund in Mongolia warned Monday.
“Big threats for the snow leopard are poaching and conflicts with local people because of attacks on livestock of herders by snow leopards in the last few years as herders moved to mountain areas in the winter season and occupied the habitat of snow leopards,” said Onon Yo.
Illegal trade of skins and skulls of snow leopards and a new trend of mining operations in the snow leopard’s habitat also pose big threats to the big cats.
Onon issued the warning on the sidelines of an international conference on snow leopard conservation here.
Snow leopards are restricted to the high mountains of Central Asia with a population of fewer than 2,500.
Many measures have been taken to protect this extremely endangered animal. About 27.5 percent of snow leopards’ potential habitats are put in protection areas and many monitoring programs had been launched in certain habitats, said Onon.
The researchers use many different methodologies, for example, GPS collars for determining the movement and migration of snow leopards, Onon said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-10/17/c_131196684.htm
Roars, growls and Grunts: India has a fair record in wild cat protection, but much is desired
Author: Ravi Chellam
India is fortunate to have a diverse set of habitats, largely due to variations in terrain and climate. This is reflected in the tremendous diversity of wild plants and animals, including the large wild cats, probably the most charismatic group of animals. India has five extant species of large wild cats; Asiatic lion, Indian tiger, common leopard, snow leopard and clouded leopard. We also had the Asiatic cheetah which went extinct in India around the time of Independence in 1947.
Wildlife conservation in India faces huge challenges that include a very large human population, an economy which is still largely biomass-based (at least in terms of the number of people whose livelihoods are linked to land and biomass), high levels of poverty, and fragmentation, degradation and destruction of habitats due to rapid land use changes largely driven by large-scale industrialisation and urbanisation. Despite these factors, India has actually fared quite well in conserving its large cats.
Could the current conservation status of wild cats have been better? Absolutely, especially because of the very high levels of tolerance for wild cats among communities which unfortunately has declined in the last decade or so; reasonably widespread public support for wildlife conservation and the high quality human resources we now possess in wildlife research and conservation.
Snow leopard:
Snow leopards have fortunately received some excellent research attention over the past 15 years and this has resulted in us having a much better understanding of their ecology. A very innovative conservation project has also been launched with very strong involvement of NGOs and this heralds a new conservation model, not restricted to protected areas.
Unfortunately, the inertia in the system and the lack of coordination between government agencies have slowed down the implementation of Project Snow Leopard. The key intervention for this species is to implement the excellent set of planned activities across their range in a collaborative manner involving local communities and NGOs.
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/lives-others?page=0,1
