Abstract: Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) frequently prey on livestock throughout their range, posing a potential threat to human livelihoods and endangering the predator’s own survival. In this study, we document seven incidents of snow leopards intruding into livestock corrals and engaging in surplus killing in three districts of Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Six of the predation incidents were attributed to a single individual, occurring in five locations of Wakhan District and eventually in Yumgan District, where the captured animal was relocated. The remaining predation incident occurred in Keran-wa Munjan District, marking the first recorded evidence of snow leopards in this area. In all but one of the incidents, the predator was trapped in the corral it intruded and safely released back to the wild with the support of the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) team in Afghanistan. Local communities have been supportive in releasing the snow leopard despite losses of over 50 livestock. To mitigate negative interactions between snow leopards and livestock, conservation efforts should focus on conserving prey species, implementing predator- proof measures for livestock corrals, and utilizing collar tracking when a trapped snow leopard is found in a corral. Unfortunately, when an individual repeatedly enters livestock corrals and continues killing livestock, capture and relocation to captivity often become the only viable option to address the problem and ensure the animal’s safety from retaliatory action by affected herders.

Abstract: Livestock depredation is an important source of conflict for many terrestrial large carnivore
species. Understanding the foraging behavior of large carnivores on domestic prey is therefore
important for both mitigating conflict and conserving threatened carnivore populations. Handling
time is an important, albeit often overlooked, component of predatory behavior, as it directly
influences access to food biomass, which can affect predator foraging efficiency and subsequent
kill rates. We used long-term data on snow leopards (Panthera uncia) in Mongolia (Asia) and
Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Norway (Europe) to examine how large carnivore foraging patterns
varied between domestic and wild prey, and how the different landscape characteristics affected
those patterns. Our results suggest handling time was generally shorter for domestic compared to
wild prey. For snow leopards, rugged terrain was linked to increased handling time for larger
prey. For lynx, handling time increased with terrain ruggedness for domestic, but not wild, prey,
and was greater in closed compared to open habitats. There were also other differences in snow
leopard and lynx foraging behavior, e.g., snow leopards also stayed longer at, and remained closer
to, their kill sites than lynx. Shorter handling time suggests that felids may have utilized domestic
prey less effectively than wild prey, i.e., they spent less time consuming their prey. This could a)
result in an energetic or fitness cost related to decreased felid foraging efficiency caused by the
risk of anthropogenic disturbance, or b) exacerbate conflict if reduced handling time associated
with easy prey results in increased livestock depredation.

Abstract: This study conducted in the high altitude rangelands of Indian Transhimalaya, deals with basic questions regarding the ecology of an endangered species, the wildsheep Tibetan argali (Ovis ammon hodgsoni) and applied issues related to its conservation and potential conflict with the local nomadic pastoralists. The basic questions on ecology are aimed at delineating the habitat and resource selection processes, identifying factors causing sexual segregation and efficient surveying and sampling. The applied aspect focuses on the changing face of pastoralism and the potential impacts of modernising livestock husbandry on argali.
Overall, the study provides a general framework towards the understanding of argali-habitat relationships at different spatio-temporal scales. The spatial determinant associated with altitude in the area, predicts argali habitat and resource selection in this relatively homogenous landscape. These determine the range of other topographic variables and forage characteristics selected by argali. The selection of feeding patches in the selected range of altitude and topography is mainly characterised by their greenness and the quality of plant groups. Adjusting to changing forage quality, argali display an opportunistic feeding strategy, selecting grasses in early spring and switching to forbs later in summer. Nevertheless, the habitat selection process did not appear to differ among the sexes to drive sexual segregation. There was, however, strong segregation among the sexes as well as between lactating and non lactating females. The reasons for segregation appeared to be predominantly social, but driven ultimately by predation and concomitantly by resources. The habitat selection information was used to design a stratified random sampling strategy that led to i) a significant reduction in survey effort in sampling these sparsely distributed species and ii) reduction in sampling bias.
The applied aspect of the study outlines and evaluates the dramatic changes in the nomadic pastoralism that have occurred in the past five decades in the study area. These have led to a loss of pastures (-25 to -33%) of the nomads, consequent readjustment in traditional patterns of pasture use, intensified grazing pressures (25 to 70%) and rangeland degradation in the area. Such changes may have serious consequences on the survival of local wildlife, as tested with a study of the effects on argali of livestock presence and resource exploitation. Hence, a successful conservation and recovery strategy should focus on: minimising the impacts of livestock on argali, identifying the factors affecting the persistence of the current populations, increasing local sub populations of this species to prevent extinction due to stochastic events, prevent loss of genetic diversity and excessive fragmentation and thus ensuring gene flow.
Ecological Niche Factor Analyses (ENFA), bias-reduced logistic regression and Fuzzy correspondence analyses (FCA) were used to answer habitat and resource selection questions. A sexual segregation and aggregation statistic (SSAS) was used to estimate the components of sexual segregation and test segregation. SSAS combined with canonical correspondence analyses (CCA) allowed the estimation of segregation based on habitat variables. Logistic regression models were formulated to estimate models on which the stratified random sampling strategy was based. The 9 Animal – Habitat relationships in high altitude rangelands overall study also included surveys, interviews and literature reviews to understand the nomads’ movement and pasture use patterns of their livestock. Kernel density estimations (KDE) were used to estimate extent of range overlaps between livestock and argali.

Abstract: A corner of northwest China's Gansu province has become a haven for hundreds of wild and rare animals. They are being helped by the 10,000 strong population who are doing their best to help preserve their neighbors from the animal kingdom. The natural environment in the northern part of the province is said to be well suited to wild animals. Inside the Mongolia Autonomous County of Northern Gansu has become home to 174 various kinds of wild animals, 32 of them under state protection. The animal inhabitants include white lipped deer, wild yak, snow leopard, lynx, brown bear, argali sheep, snow pheasant and Tibetan Gazelle, and they are often found roaming the county's mountainous pasture areas.

Abstract: Data on distribution, number, diet and breeding of snow leopard in NW spurs of the Hissar Ridge were collected over long-term studies in the span from 1981 to 1994. An increase in the number of this animal from 4 to 17 individuals has been recorded in the Hissar Nature Reserve (Uzbekistan).

Abstract: The snow leopard has remained little studied in the past, and most of the information available is either in the form of natural history or anecdotal notes. The inaccessibility of the terrain and its secretive habits make this one of the more difficult animals to study in the wild. In the past decade, several ecological surveys were conducted in India, Nepal, China and Mongolia, which gave us information on the status and distribution of snow leopard (Jackson, Mallon, Fox, Schaller, Chundawat) A detailed study in Nepal through light on its secretive habits ( Jackson and Ahlborn, 1989). Even then little is known about its feeding habits. The present paper discusses this aspect from a study which was part of a detailed study conducted on the ecology of snow leopard in India from October 1987 to Feburary 1990.

Abstract: In the year 1970, the quantity of snow leopards in Kyrgyzstan was defined as 1,300 animals, while in the years to follow 1,600 animals were recorded. A snow leopard population has significantly decreased since recently because of intense extermination of snow leopard's prey ungulates, particularly ibex. In some areas of the Kyrgyz ridge livestock is growing in number thus affecting snow leopard population. It is extremely rare that snow leopard would attack livestock. Snow leopards can be caught under special license. Educational and awareness work among shepherds and hunters residing in the mountainous area of the country needs to be improved.