Author: sln_g5rd8x

Snow Leopard captured on camera trap, Uttarakhand State, India

The image was released by by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) under Project Snow Leopard.

Here is the 1st on Snow Leopard in one of its last known habitat. The state forest department of Uttarakhand state (with cover of greater Himalayas) of India with help of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) found its first Snow Leopard by the virtue of a camera trap in the Malari region of the greater Himalayas. Malari falls under the Nandadevi Biosphere reserve and is a reserved forest region. The news comes as a great relief of the state forest department as the Snow Leopards were almost extinct from the region. Local farmers and nomadic shepherd have known to poach the cat for good prices of its skin and bone, bringing it on the brink of extinction.

One of the many camera traps installed by the team of WII and state forest department captured the elusive image of Snow Leopard. The region was tipped as a habitat with high density of Leopard but those claims turned out to be incorrect. After several other clipping of Himalayan Tahr, Ibex (Bharal), Marmot and Musk Deer finally there was this cat on the camera. It was indeed a moment of joy for those who are really concerned about the status of this ghost of the mountains.

The image of the cat is breakthrough news of the local forest department as well. The legends of this cat know as ‘Him Tendua’ in Hindi has been part of stories and folklore since time immemorial. Although I heard many a stories from villagers and nomads it was the first time a conclusive evidence was reported in the state where I live.

Congrats to the SLN fraternity. Hope we get many more evidence like these.

Thanks to Yogendra Joshi for this posting. 19Apr11.

Ed Fischer upcoming book on searching for snow leopards

Chasing the elusive snow leopard
Squamish resident set to share story of his 30-year search for Asian ‘phantom’

Squamish resident Ed Fischer pauses during an acclimitization hike in May of 2010. Behind Ed are some of the typically upturned stratifications of the Stok Range; this was once an ancient seabed that was pushed up in front of the Himalayas as the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia 70 million years ago.

April 8, 2011

Ben Lypka
blypka@squamishchief.com

The snow leopard is known throughout the animal kingdom as a secretive animal.

The large cat is native to the mountain ranges of South and Central Asia and lives a highly solitary life. Because of the animal’s secretive nature and ability to remain well camouflaged, human interaction has been extremely limited.

The animal’s lifestyle is part of what attracted Squamish resident Ed Fischer to the majestic beast. For close to 30 years, he made it a life goal to spot a snow leopard in its natural habitat, and he will be showing his findings to anyone interested at the Squamish Adventure Centre theatre on April 20 with his “Chasing the Phantom” slideshow.

“I read Peter Matthiessen’s book, The Snow Leopard and was really inspired by it,” he said. “So back in 1985 I sort of went on a self-discovery voyage and spent the better part of the year looking for wild snow leopards in the Ladakh area in India.”

Despite a few close calls, Fischer ultimately was unsuccessful in his goal to see a snow leopard in the wild back in 1985.

“I did see a still-steaming carcass of a Dall sheep when I was 17,000 feet up and it probably was a snow leopard’s kill, but it was nowhere to be seen,” he said. “That was the closest I ever got back then and for the next 20-year period, I was so busy with business that I had no time to go back. But recently I had some free time and decided I’m going to go back and look for the cats.”

It wasn’t until the fall of 2009 that Fischer returned to the region, but he admitted that the desire to spot a snow leopard in the wild never really left.

“I really relate to the snow leopard as an animal,” he said. “It’s really a soloist of an animal and that’s part of the reason why I decided to try and spot it all on my own. The usual way with normal tourists is you find a guide and he leads you. That’s not really my nature to do something like that.”

For the next two months, Fischer searched for the snow leopard. Typically, he would look for tracks or scat that the cats left behind and try to figure out what the animal’s next move would have been. Again, he had several close calls but seemed to be just missing the creatures.

“One day I found some fresh tracks and it appeared the animal was running away,” he said. “It got away and while I was trying to track it, down came 25 centimetres of fresh snow, covering up the tracks. It was cold, I was exhausted and my feet were swollen, so I called it a day.”

Fischer said it seemed as though the leopards were toying with him at one point during the trip.

“I remember looking at my own tracks one morning and seeing the tracks of a snow leopard inside my own boot print,” he said. “It was almost like they were mocking me.”

He returned to Squamish at the end of November 2009, still not having seen an elusive snow leopard. However, he returned the following spring, with his wife Helen Habgood.

“She’s full of spirit and adventure,” he said of his wife. “She would have gone with me before, but she’s a partner in her own business and can be very busy. I figured that she would be good to bring along because she’s very observant and is able to find things around the house all the time when I can’t.”

After a few unsuccessful weeks, the duo finally achieved their goal, spotting an entire family of snow leopards.

“When we finally did see them, we were only the third party to pass through that particular area for years,” he said. “It was totally unspoiled land and it was so ironic to see a family after everything I’ve read that they are solo animals. We talked to the locals and they told us how rare it was to see a family. We were both pretty amazed.”

Fischer is also working on a book about his travels searching for the snow leopard and is about one quarter done. He said he’s not sure when the book will be released but admitted the final product is a ways off.

The slideshow is about 90 minutes long and Fischer said that if ticket sales continue at the steady pace they’re going at, he may add a second show that evening. The first scheduled show takes place April 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Squamish Adventure Centre theatre. Tickets are $6 and can be purchased in advance at the Adventure Centre box office. As of press time only 15 remained.

For more information and a preview of Fischer’s upcoming book, visit his website at www.chasingthephantom.com.

http://www.squamishchief.com/article/20110408/SQUAMISH0501/304089936/-1/squamish/chasing-the-elusive-snow-leopard

Ecologists see increasing snow leopard population in Tuva

http://eco.rian.ru/nature/20110317/354921373.html

Ecologists see increasing snow leopard population in Tuva

Mar 22 (dateline below listed differently)

Moscow, 17 March – RIA Novosti WWF’s Altai-Sayan Program announced that the snow leopard population along the southern part of the Shapshal’sky Ridge and on the Tsagan-Shibetu Ridge in Tuva Republic is in good condition and that the female snow leopards are reproducing.

Snow leopards are one of the least studied large cat species in the world. This is related in part due to the inaccessibility of their habitat as well as the species’ rarity.

Aleksandr Kuksin, Ubsunurskaya Kotlovina staff, is quoted as saying, “The snow leopards here are successfully reproducing, and we are constantly seeing signs of females with offspring along the Tsagan-Shibetu Ridge. This means that the predator’s population is being complemented with young individuals, and that overall the group of snow leopards in the southern part of Shapshal’sky Ridge and on Tsagan-Shibetu Ridge in Tuva can be called favorable. It can be assumed that the snow leopard population even slightly increased between 2004 and 2011.”

Signs of snow leopard activity were discovered in all river valley studied, including the Khemchika and Shuya headwaters and the Toolaylyg and Barlyk Rivers watersheds. Researchers identified 19 signs of snow leopards belonging to 17 different snow leopards, and there was a single encounter with the rare predatory. In 2004 in that same region, 13 snow leopard spoors were found, belonging to 8-10 individuals. Staff from Ubsunurskaya Kotlovina Zapovednik staff and Tuva’s state Hunting and Fishing Committee staff conducted field research to assess snow leopard and Siberian mountain goat populations concluded on March 6

In addition to finding the spoor of this rare predatory, expedition participants found numerous sites showing ongoing marking activities by snow leopard, which like any cat, they use to indicate individual territories.

Approximately 40 scat samples were gathered and will be sent to the Severtsov Institute for Ecology and Evolution Problems (RAS) for DNA analysis, which will permit determination of the population’s size, their gender, and age.

Evidence of snow leopard on Shapshal’sky Ridge and Tsagan-Shibetu

Moreover, snow leopard excrement is needed to train scent dogs, an activity now being conducted with WWF-Russia support in Barnaul. In the future Erik the German shepherd, now being trained to locate and identify snow leopard spoor by scent, will support Tuvan and Altai conservationists in fieldwork.

“Today, Erik is training using excrement from zoos, but using material collected in the snow leopard’s natural habitat will significantly increase the dog’s competence, because the dog will be working in this predator’s actual habitat, “ explain WWF-Russia experts.

In addition, expedition participants observed 148 mountain goats (Siberian mountain goats), which, in comparison with past years, indicates the stability of this grouping. A low-snow winter has left grazing areas accessible to mountain goats in the high mountains, where over the course of the winter a significant portion of ungulates remained. The main threats to snow leopards remain shepherds that lose sheep to predator attacks and local snare poachers, according to WWF-Russia. One to two local snow leopards are lost every year as a result of an animal accidentally ending up in a snare trap. The inspectors that participated in the expedition succeeded in arresting three poachers from Ovyursky Rayon for illegal mountain goat hunting along the Eldig-Khem River.

Translation courtesy of Jennifer Castner.

BBS Blog mentions Snow Leopard Network

Big cats prefer the taste of wild flesh
Post categories: Conservation

Matt Walker | 12:01 UK time, Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Asiatic lions are extending their limited range

Conservation stories can be hard to tell. Not so the story of the Asiatic lion – which is a rare beast, in every sense.

New research just published highlights an increase in the numbers of Asiatic lions surviving in the Gir Forest of India.

The numbers aren’t large. From a base of 180 lions left in 1974, the population has risen to 411 by 2010.

But that’s impressive considering just a few dozen survived at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Even more impressive is how it was achieved (more of that later) and how lessons might be learnt that could help ensure the survival of other threatened big cats, such as snow leopards.

It may seem odd to say that conservation stories can be hard to tell. BBC Nature has recently reported on the decline in British oil beetles, and how an oil spill is affecting up to 10,000 rockhopper penguins on Tristan da Cunha island, a UK overseas territory.

But they are hard to report. Not because they don’t matter – they do, hugely so. And not because they are dull – they are not, often focusing on some of the world’s most beautiful, iconic, unique or interesting species.

They are hard to tell because they tend to follow the same narrative: a once populous species suffers an alarming decline in numbers due to habitat loss, poaching, invasive species or disease.

It can become numbing to repeatedly hear this basic plot line. So much so that we struggle to listen to the hugely complex web of ecological factors that can drive a species toward extinction, or help bring it back.

That’s why it’s important to celebrate the good news stories. If you care about wildlife, you’ll want to celebrate them for their own sake. But it’s important to highlight them for another reason: because success breeds success, and successful breeding programmes can help bolster each other.

Take India’s Gir lions.

Asiatic lions are a subspecies of the modern lion, which remains much more abundant in Africa, although its numbers there are dwindling. Being a subspecies doesn’t make the Asiatic lion less worthy – it’s the last of a kind that once roamed the Asian subcontinent.

This big cat has a preference for dry deciduous forests, thorny forests and savannah, which have disappeared fast in India. But it’s also worth remembering something that seems obvious: big cats have a taste for wild flesh.

The key to the Gir lions’ revival appears to have been a dramatic increase in the numbers of wild ungulates. Between 1970 and 2010, numbers of chital, sambar, blue bull and wild boar among others rose 10-fold in total within the Gir forest in the southwest part of the Saurashtra region in the state of Gujarat, scientists report in the journal Biological Conservation.

Even more important, this new abundance of natural food meant the lions no longer relied on hunting livestock, which brought them into direct contact, and conflict, with local herders.

The increase in prey, and lions, has come as the result of decades of hard work and intensive management by conservationists in Gujarat.

The big cats are even tentatively dispersing out into their former range with a quarter of the population (35 males, 35 females, 19 subadults and 16 cubs at the last count) now existing outside the Gir forest.

Lessons learned here could be vital for bringing other large carnivores back from the brink.

Which brings us to the snow leopard. Fewer than 7000 snow leopards are thought to survive in the mountains of central Asia.

New research has, for the first time, attempted to establish exactly what wild snow leopards in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Baltistan, Pakistan, are eating.

The study, published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research, examined the faeces, or scats, left by these elusive animals.

It revealed that 70% of what snow leopards are eating in the region is domestic livestock, and a range of livestock at that: 23% of the biomass eaten came from sheep, 16% from goat, 10% from cattle and the rest from yak or yak-cattle hybrids.

This heavy predation on domestic livestock appears to be a likely cause of conflict with local inhabitants – and when conflict between humans and wild animals occurs, there tends to be only one winner.

So it’s clear that conservation initiatives need to focus on mitigating this conflict by minimising livestock losses – and one way to do that, the Gir lions recovery tells us, is to boost wild prey numbers once more.

(On a related note, news arrived late last month, sent by the Snow Leopard Network, (SLN) that the Mongolian government has reversed an earlier decision to allow the killing of four snow leopards in the country. The volte face came after pressure from conservationists, including Charudutt ‘Charu’ Mishra, executive director of the SLN and a past winner of the Whitley Gold Award.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wondermonkey/2011/04/gir-lion-revival-offers-food-f.shtml#more

Snow leopard killing livestock in Gilgit, Pakistan

Wildlife: Snow leopard on the prowl in Gilgit
By Shabbir Mir
Published: April 5, 2011
The endangered animal has been on a killing spree of cattle for weeks.

GILGIT:
A snow leopard – also known as the Uncia or Panthera uncial – went on a killing spree in a remote Valley of Gilgit late on Sunday, slaughtering a dozen goats owned by a poor shepherd.

The incident occurred in a pre-dawn attack at Nazim Abad – a village of Sost Gojal, which is about 300 kilometres from Gilgit and is adjacent to the Pak-China border at Sost.

Chairman Khunjerab Village Organisation (KVO) Rehman Posh, who is also a conservationist, told The Express Tribune that, “The wild cat has killed 11 live stock including goat and sheep.” He added that the snow leopard had managed to break into a cattle shed, belonging to Ashim Shah, a shepherd.

“I examined the spot after a villager informed me of the incident and found that seven cattle were dead while four were seriously injured,” he said, adding that the wounded animals were put down as they had little to no chances of survival.

Posh said that the snow leopard has been on the rampage for the past couple of week in the valley, as it had previously killed two domesticated animals (yaks) in the Morphun area. He said that in the wake of the attacks, locals have stepped up security of their livestock as the assaults usually come as surprise.

Posh added that the incident was immediately brought to the notice of the forests and wildlife department. Asked if they will provide any compensation to the owner of the cattle, the chairman said that they were in the process of dialogue with the aggrieved party and said that his organisation would provide compensation to the farmer. He, however, didn’t say how much.

Divisional forests officer [DFO] Wildlife Ghulam Mohammad told The Express Tribune that he has assigned the task of verification and compilation of the report of the incident to his subordinates. He said that such incidents in the Gilgit-Baltistan are frequent and that a systematic approach is needed to settle the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2011.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/143103/wildlife-snow-leopard-on-the-prowl-in-gilgit/

National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) and US-based Snow Leopard Conservancy has launched snow leopard conservation project in Nepal

Snow leopard conservation project

Added At: 2011-04-03 11:36 PM
Last Updated At: 2011-04-03 11:36 PM
The Himalayan Times – HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: The National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) and US-based Snow leopards Conservancy has launched the snow leopard conservation project.

Altogether there are 4,510 to 7,350 snow leopards across the world. Nepal has around 500 of them.”Special efforts are required to conserve the species,” said Som Ale, an expert.

In Nepal, the snow leopard is found in Mustang, Mugu, Dolpa and Humla. The government has legally protected the snow leopard by including it on the list of protected animals in the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973 and provisioning penalties up to NRs 100,000 or 5 to 15 years imprisonment or both, for poaching snow leopards and buying and selling of its pelt and bones.

“We are now gearing up efforts to conserve a most elusive species in the world,” said Krishna Prasad Acharya, Director General, Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.

The snow leopard-human conflict is taken as one of the main threats to its survival as it is known to kill sheep, goats, horses, and yak calves.

“The snow leopards are facing the problem of poaching and habitat loss, so there is need for community-based conservation efforts to tackle this problem,” said Juddha Bahadur Gurung, Member Secretary, NTNC.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Snow+leopard+conservation+project+&NewsID=282531

Book review: ‘The Snow Leopard: The True Story of an Amazing Rescue’ by Juliana Hatkoff

Published: Sunday, March 27, 2011, 6:10 PM

By Mary Penn | Bay County Library System The Bay City Times

“Leo the Snow Leopard: The True Story of an Amazing Rescue” by Juliana Hatkoff

Scholastic, 2010, 40 pages, $17.99, Ages 4 to 10

What would you do if you found a helpless snow leopard cub?

A goatherd in Pakistan found such a cub. After observing the cub to see if he really was alone, the goatherd took the tiny creature home. The cub, named Leo, soon grew too big to be kept inside. A safe, suitable home needed to be found for this growing leopard — and fast!

This book tells the exciting story of how Leo journeyed from Pakistan to live in one of America’s most famous zoos. The author also shares fascinating facts about snow leopards and why Leo’s story is so important to the future of his species.

— Reviewed by Rachel Bedell, Auburn Area Branch Library
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/bay-city/index.ssf/2011/03/rachel_bedell_reviews_the_snow.html

Putin’s animal antics questioned in Russia

By Maria Antonova (AFP) – 19 hours ago

MOSCOW — “There’s a good kitty, a pretty kitty,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was shown by state media telling snow leopard last weekend, who stared back at him, covered in fresh blood.

The rare species is the latest to go under “personal control” of the Russian leader, who is overseeing research programs on a handful of mammals, including the tiger, beluga whale and polar bear.

As part of that work he has taken part in several tagging missions with scientists from the Moscow-based Severtsov Institute.

But other scientists have said the snow leopard was harmed, and that the program is scientifically unreasonable and directed more towards publicity.

The leopard, called Mongol, had to be flown to Khakasia, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) away from its habitat in the Sayano-Shushensky reserve, and was held in captivity for five days, released only after meeting Putin.

The removal of the animal was “criminal”, according to the regional UNDP-funded programme on biodiversity, since the Severtsov institute only had permission to tag Mongol, which could have been done in 15 minutes.

On Sunday, the Severtsov institute said on its website that the animal had to be held and treated for wounds on his neck and cheekbone.

“He was ill,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP, dismissing allegations that the animal had been held captive in order to meet the prime minister as “absolutely groundless.”

But Alexander Bondarev, the manager of UNDP’s program, argued: “That any treatment was necessary is a big question.

“It is as though he was cured as soon as he saw the prime minister,” he added.

“If he really needed treatment, he could be treated in a zoo or in a veterinary center.”

Mongol could even have harmed himself as he was trying to break loose, said another observer.

“The important question is: how was the animal affected by staying in a cage?” said WWF Russia head Igor Chestin.

“Big cats, when disturbed, start hitting against it and can break their teeth, and without teeth they will not survive in the wild.”

There are only 100 snow leopards in Russia. “Each is literally golden,” said Bondarev.

They were easier to catch in the Sayano-Shushensky reserve, but tagging its population was not scientifically valuable, he added.

“There are only seven or eight specimens there, they are isolated and well studied,” he said. Tagging had to be done together with on-ground monitoring to see why the animal was moving in a certain way, he added.

“That cannot be done in a strictly protected area such as a reserve,” he said.

The Severtsov institute’s program, which studies animals in the Red Book of endangered species “and other especially important animals of Russia” currently lists six mammals, most of which were tagged, patted, or kissed by Putin.

The programme is funded by state oil transport monopoly Transneft, and a Saint Petersburg-based charitable fund “Konstantinovsky”, which is chaired mostly by government officials.

The first time the general public heard about it was in 2008, when Putin voiced support for the endangered Amur Tiger and participated in a tagging expedition in the Russian Far East.

A video about the expedition on the prime minister’s website relates how a helicopter carrying Vladimir Putin landed in the taiga.

Just as the prime minister is overseeing the facilities, “a tigress stumbles across a trap,” the video relates.

Putin personally drives the SUV to the scene, and “appears on the trail just at the moment the tigress makes a leap.” Handy with a gun, Putin shoots a syringe with the sedative, says the video’s commentary.

But that version of events does not gel with that told by some members of the conservation community, as one Far Eastern tiger expert told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Local conservationists believe the animal was flown in from the Khabarovsk zoo (about 500 kilometres away) in time for the visit.

It was placed in the trap, sedated just enough so it could start stirring when the delegation drove up, he said.

Later the animal was returned to the zoo and a different wild tigress was eventually captured and released with the tracker.

“This could be confirmed by a stripe pattern comparison,” the source said: “For each animal the pattern is unique.”

The big cat programmes advertised as pioneering on the Institute’s website have no synergy with local research, which has been going on for 18 years, he added.

“They like to say their project is supported by the government, so nobody voices any serious criticism. But locally scientists don’t like them, since they structure programmes based on convenience and PR.”

At the WWF, Chestin complained of low salaries, a cut in the number of rangers and other changes introduced after the government did away with its federal environmental protection committee.

“While considerable money is being spent lately on research, systematically, conservation of animals is in very poor shape,” he said.

It was Putin himself who signed the decree to end the committee’s existence on May 17th, 2000, ten days after his inauguration.

Copyright © 2011 AFP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jNp_lxEWFaxUjP-OX3N42D8ATY8Q?docId=CNG.1b64a6725906cfcabaa4f4b42fc1a3bf.321

The Snow Leopard Conservancy announces a special award for Rinchen Wangchuk

Award for Outstanding Achievements in Community-Based Snow Leopard Conservation

Presented to
RINCHEN WANGCHUK
Director, Snow Leopard Conservancy-India Trust

In recognition of outstanding achievements in community-based snow leopard conservation

SNOW LEOPARD CONSERVANCY U.S.

March 2011

Rinchen Wangchuk, Founder-Director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy–India Trust, has received an Award for Outstanding Achievements in Community-Based Snow Leopard Conservation. This award was presented to Rinchen by the Snow Leopard Conservancy U.S., to honor Rinchen’s pioneering role in the development of community-based conservation initiatives that are shifting local herders’ perception of the snow leopard from a predatory pest to be trapped or poisoned for killing their livestock to a valued asset worth more alive than dead.

Mark Coreth, master sculptor of animals in motion, donated this “field study,” which he created in 2005, immediately after seeing the snow leopard in Hemis National Park during a visit with Rinchen and Rodney Jackson. The base for the sculpture was crafted from Indian mahogany by Snow Leopard Conservancy U.S. volunteer Roger Perso. This award also included a grant of $20,000, provided by generous donors.

For more than a decade Rinchen has forged enduring partnerships with local communities in the Ladakh, Zanskar, and Nubra regions of northern India. He has brought these communities to the forefront of efforts to protect snow leopards—which may number less than 5,000 across twelve countries of Central and South Asia—and the blue sheep, argali and ibex on which the cats depend. Rinchen has worked with livestock herders to predator-proof their nighttime corrals, and has trained local men and women in income generation skills that are intrinsically linked with snow leopard conservation. He has spearheaded the creation of a conservation education program, blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for children throughout the region.

Perhaps Rinchen’s greatest achievement has been his role in promoting sustainable rural tourism, including the award-winning Himalayan Homestay program. This highly acclaimed UNESCO-sponsored project was launched in 2003, and has catalyzed similar community-driven initiatives in Tajikistan, Pakistan and Mongolia. The Leh-based SLC-India Trust grew out of a partnership with the Snow Leopard Conservancy U.S., led by Rodney Jackson, and now operates as an independent organization devoted to community-based wildlife conservation.

Rinchen’s commitment to the welfare of wildlife and rural people grew naturally from his own Ladakhi village upbringing, and his experiences as a mountaineer and nature tour guide. His expertise was honed by special training in community-based tourism from The Mountain Institute and Thailand’s Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific. Rinchen also assisted researchers in developing the Earthwatch program, “Land of the Snow Leopard.” He has served as a naturalist and assistant on several documentaries filmed in Hemis National Park, including the widely acclaimed “Silent Roar: Searching for the Snow Leopard.”

Please join us in honoring Rinchen for his passion and commitment to snow leopard conservation.

SLN Chair’s letter regarding Mongolian government decision

Dear SLN Members,

You will be happy to know that because of the efforts and wishes of many of you, and the support of numerous individuals and institutions that joined hands together to convince the Government of Mongolia not to allow the killing of snow leopards in the name of so called ‘research’, permits for which had already been granted.

I am pleased to announce that the honorable Minister for Nature, Environment and Tourism, Government of Mongolia, Mr. Luimed Gansukh did cancel the permits today, the 23rd of March 2011 which his Ministry had already approved and issued.

I must congratulate all of you, especially those who stayed in touch with the concerned Ministry, providing it with sound scientific reasons and information for the Ministry to re-assess its earlier decision and, based on it, had to cancel the permits. I further appreciate the understanding of the Honorable Minister for Nature, Environment and Tourism of the critical situation; and his positive attitude towards the resolution of a situation that had emerged because of a wrong approach and intentions of an individual and, due to which, not only the entire international conservation community remained disturbed for quite a while but it also put at stake the existing reputation of the Government of Mongolia for being a conservation loving nation.

I wish to thank the senior management of the Snow Leopard Network and our partner organizations for their help and support, and especially those in Mongolia for their leadership in addressing this matter.

On part of the SLN, its members and Steering Committee, I further wish to thank the following individuals and organizations for their contribution to a sacred cause of protecting snow leopards from a direct threat in the name of scientific research, and establishing a good example for other Range States to follow in a situation like this:

Mr. A. Enkhbat, Director General, Sustainable Development and Strategic Planning Department, Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, Mongolia
Mr. D. Enkhbat, Director, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, Mongolia
Mr. D. Batbold, Director, International Co-operation Department, Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, Mongolia
Mr. A Bayarjargal and staff of SLT/Snow Leopard Conservation Fund, Mongolia
Mr. Purevjav Lkhagvajav of Snow Leopard Conservation Fund
Mr.B Lkhagvasuren, Onon and other staff of WWF Mongolia
Mr. Amanda Fines, Enkhtuvshin, Odonchimeg, and other staff of WCS Mongolia
Mr. S. Damdinsuren of the Mongolian Foundation for the Protection of Animals
Mr. D. Munkhtsog
Mr. Naranbaatar, Adya and staff of the Institute of Biology, Mongolia
Mr. Shagdarsuren D, National Mongolian Radio

The SLN stands ready to assist the Government of Mongolia draft guidelines covering ethical and scientifically robust research methodology on snow leopards.

Best Regards
ASHIQ AHMAD KHAN
Chair, Steering Committee,
Snow leopard Network
e-mail: ashiqahmad@gmail.com