Source: BBC Online
Collar ‘key’ to snow leopard secrets

Lying somewhere in the mountainous, snow-cloaked terrain of Pakistan’s Tooshi Game Reserve is a collar that could help unlock the secrets of the elusive snow leopard.

For the past year, this piece of hi-tech equipment has sat around the neck of a wild snow leopard, recording, via the global positioning system (GPS), almost every step of her travels as she roamed the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Snow leopard diary

And now the collar has dropped off – as it was programmed to – the hunt is under way to retrieve it and for the first time shed light on the secretive animal’s movements.

For Tom McCarthy, science and conservation director of the Snow Leopard Trust, getting hold of the collar is especially important thanks to some of the technical difficulties that the project has faced over the last 14 months.

In November 2006, he and his team captured a 35kg (75lb) female snow leopard – who they named Bayad-e-Kohsaar (Urdu for In Memory of the Mountains) – in the Chitral Gol National Park in Pakistan and fitted the satellite collar.

Continue reading “BBC Video Clip and Article on Radio Collar”

Drink vodka cocktails, save the snow leopard

Source: Smart Planet News

It’s estimated that there are only 3,000 to 7,000 snow leopards left in the wild worldwide, and the outlook is bleak as poachers continue to hunt them down for their incredibly attractive furs. Thankfully, the conservation effort to protect them is set to get a boost from the animals’ alcoholic namesake, Snow Leopard Vodka.

The premium vodka brand, which has until now only been available at swanky cocktail bars in London and Manchester, is now starting to appear in supermarkets like Waitrose, and the company will be generously donating 15 per cent of its profits to protecting endangered species. The company has also set up a charity, called the Snow Leopard Trust UK, to handle the efforts in collaboration with the Snow Leopard International Trust and other wildlife charities.

The vodka is produced in Poland from batches of natural spring water and a grain called spelt. Because spelt has a naturally thick husk, it has the added benefit of being able to grow easily without the use of pesticides.

“This is not just any vodka from Poland, it is one of the best premium spirits on the market,” says Xhulio Sina, Bar Manager of Sketch, Mayfair. “Snow Leopard Vodka has a long and smooth finish, while being strong and gentle in the mouth. This is what I call a true vodka”.

See next page for more information and some delicious recipes!
Continue reading “Drink Vodka, Save the Snow Leopard”

National Geographic Kids shares the story of Leo, the cub who went to live at the Bronx Zoo (Dec 07/Jan 08 Issue).

Click “more” for next page…
Continue reading “Every Single Snow Leopard”

Snow leopard: Beyond the myth
Fri 4 Jan 8.00pm BBC Two
and Sun 6 Jan

In 2004 a team from the BBC’s Planet Earth filmed intimate images of a snow leopard, high in the mountains of northern Pakistan. The experience marked the beginning of a love affair with the snow leopard for Nisar Malik, a Pakistani journalist more at home covering the conflicts in Afghanistan than tracking wildlife.
Now he’s back, along with cameraman Mark Smith, to spend 18 months following this most enigmatic of animals. Their combined expertise allows them to gain unique insight into the day to day life of a female snow leopard. But as they build a valuable visual record Nisar and Mark are also drawn into the struggle to protect her. Set in the wilds of the Hindu Kush, this film profiles a much misunderstood part of the world, going beyond the myth to tell the snow leopard’s real story.

Source: Environmental News Service

KATHMANDU, Nepal, December 24, 2007 (ENS) – To commemorate the Ghunsa tragedy, in which the lives of 24 conservationists from the Nepalese government and WWF were lost in a helicopter crash, the government of Nepal has announced the designation of four new high altitude Wetlands of International Importance.

The helicopter went down on September 23, 2006 in Ghunsa, Nepal. WWF lost seven colleagues – Chandra Gurung, Mingma Norbu Sherpa, Harka Gurung, Yeshi Lama, Jill Bowling Schlaepfer, Jennifer Headley and Matthew Preece – in the crash.

The country lost its minister of state for forests and soil conservation, the secretary of that ministry, the director general of national parks and wildlife conservation, the director general of forests, several of its most distinguished defenders of natural resources and overseas specialists who were champions for conservation in Nepal.

They were returning from a trip to Ghunsa, in the mountains of eastern Nepal where they had participated in a ceremony in which the government of Nepal handed over to local communities responsibility for managing the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, a place known for its beauty, biodiversity and rich cultural heritage.
Continue reading “Nepal Safeguards Four Sacred Himalayan Lakes, some in snow leopard range area”

Source: merinews.com

October 30, 2007- WITH MILITANCY on the wane, though temporarily, the frontier district of Poonch is caught up in different kind of violence. Man-animal conflict is taking dangerous turns.

According to the Forest and Wildlife officials, irate residents of a Poonch village axed a female bear and her two cubs to death after they attacked some boys in the area.

The bears strayed into Bedar village in Sabzian area of the district and mauled some boys after which angry locals attacked them, officials stated. The villagers carrying torches attacked the female bear and her cubs with axes.

Earlier, the villagers had killed three wild bears in same area. A team of forest officials recovered the bodies of the three beasts, the next day. One of them was full grown female while two others were young ones – one male and the other female.

Continue reading “Man-animal conflict flares up in Poonch, India”

A wild snow leopard that killed 50 sheep has been captured and put in a zoo in northwest China’s Qinghai Province.

The big cat haunted the Qijia village, Gonghe county of the province, and attacked the sheep before angry villagers finally decided to hunt it.

They chased the leopard on motorcycles and roped the beast after lengthy fight.

When villagers were told that the wild snow leopard they had snared was under first class protection along with the panda, they decided to hand it to the Xining Zoo in the capital city of the province rather than kill it.

“The animal, aged five or six, was caught alive by the villagers only because it had been without food for several days and was weak,” said Xu Shuren, head of the zoo and expert on wild animal protection.

There are believed to be between 5,000 and 7,500 snow leopards left in the wild and around 500 in captivity, mainly in Asia.

Qinghai had an estimated 900 to 1,200 wild snow leopards, Xu said.

The demand for snow leopard pelts in some countries had led to a great drop their numbers.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2007)

Source: The Santa Barbara Independent

December 6, 2007- Snow in Santa Barbara? Not likely. Today, however, thousands of people flocked to the Santa Barbara Zoo to take a look at animals and children frolicking in more that 40 tons of snow. It was all part of the Snow Leopard Festival, held to raise money for the critically endangered Snow Leopards. Hailing from the cold climes of the Russo-Chinese border, the two Amur Leopards, who also reside in the zoo, benefited from the snow as well.

Brought in by semi truck, the snow arrived before 5 a.m., and was met by zoo keepers and staffers who helped unload the delivery into animal cages and at the hilltop park at the zoo’s center. Staff even constructed two small sledding hills in the park, which, by 10 a.m., were packed with enthusiastic kids. Animals could be seen romping in the snow as well — albeit within their enclosures — with snow leopards rolling playfully in it, and Asian Elephants forming and tossing snowballs with their dexterous trunks.

The snow attracted more than the usual number of zoo visitors for a Sunday afternoon, with the official count being upwards of 4,000 guests. Dean Noble, the Zoo’s director of marketing, said that the money raised by admission fees will benefit the Snow Leopard Trust, which has worked since 1981 to help protect snow leopards and their central Asian habitat. Heavily involved in animal conversation efforts, the Santa Barbara Zoo is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), which ensures that species — particularly endangered ones — get the space and habitat they need in captivity. “Zoos used to be for entertainment. Now they’ve become modern arcs,” said Noble.

Photo: Paul Wellman

Continue reading “Santa Barbara Zoo’s Snow Leopard Festival a Success”

The Jackson Zoo in partnership with the International Snow Leopard Trust, an organizational member of the Snow Leopard Network, hosted a “Snow Day” on December first to increase snow leopard awareness and celebrate this cold-weather species.

For more information, see
http://www.jacksonzoo.org/media/documents/071127SnowDayattheZoo.pdf

Snow Leopard Network member Rod Jackson was nominated for the $100,000 Indianapolis Prize for his work through the Snow Leopard Conservancy.

For more information on the prize, see http://www.indyzoo.com/content.aspx?cid=778