Snow leopard skin seized in Palmar of Jammu, India, western Himalaya

Based on villagers’ information on the smuggling of parts of wild animals by a group of smugglers, the police launched a manhunt in Palmar of Jammu, western Himalaya and confiscated a snow leopard from the arrested person.

6 November 2011

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20101107/j&k.htm#16

Indian Army rescued injured snow leopard in Ladakh

Indian Army rescued injured snow leopard in Ladakh

by Vijay Kumar <http://www.groundreport.com/vijaykumar> March 03, 2010  

Udhampur-Jammu, March 3 (Scoop News/Ground Report) – Indian army rescued an injured snow leopard who was trapped by the villagers of LAGA village near Tangtse in Ladakh of J&K state.

According to reports reaching here the snow leopard was hiding behind a big stone. On getting information about the snow leopard, which is among endangered species, troops from nearby location rescued it with the help of a camouflage net and a blanket.

Meanwhile, the department of Wild Life was contacted at Leh and a team from the Wild Life department headed by Mr. Norbu, reached at LAGA village and shifted the injured snow leopard to the Animal Rescue Centre with the help of the Army troops, where it was treated, fed and kept overnight.Finally injured lepored was shifted by the Wild Life team to Leh for treatment & rehabilitation.

http://www.groundreport.com/Lifestyle/Indian-Army-rescued-an-injured-snow-leopard-in-Lad_2/2918950

Two leopards captured in J-K

STAFF WRITER 19:13 HRS IST

Jammu, Mar 3 (PTI Press Trust of India) In separate incidents, people captured two leopards, including an endangered snow leopard, which had entered their villages, police officials said.A leopard barged into the house of Mohammad Younis and attacked herd of sheep in Ladote village of Rajouri district early today, they said.

The villagers assembled and captured the leopard, the officials said.

Later, they informed the matter to wildlife officials who had taken custody of the leopard, they said, adding the injured wildcat was being treated.

Another report said a snow leopard was trapped by the villagers when it entered village Laga near Tangtse mountain ridge in Leh district a few days back, army officials said.

Army troops and wildlife officials rescued the injured snow leopard and shifted it to animal rescue centre in Leh, where it was being treated, they said.

http://www.ptinews.com/news/545984_Two-leopards-captured-in-J-K <http://www.ptinews.com/news/545984_Two-leopards-captured-in-J-K>

Species Recovery Program for Snow Leopards etc. in Jammu & Kashmir

  Jammu , Feb 28, 2010 Jammu and Kashmir government has launched Species Recovery Programme (SRP) for the endangered snow leopards, Markhor and Kashmiri stags to prevent their extinction.

“Jammu and Kashmir Government’s forest department has launched centre aided SRP for three species- snow leopard, Hangul (Kashmiri stags) and Markhor- for reversing the extinction process of such species in J-K,” Forest Minister Mian Altaf Said here.

“In year 2009, the estimated population of Hungul has been recorded at 175 only,” the Minister said.

He said that a breeding centre for Hangul is being established at Shikargah Tral in Kashmir.

“The project, being funded by Central Zoo Authority of India, Dehradun, has been approved by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India,” Altaf said.

It is being funded under the species recovery Programme of centrally sponsored scheme ‘Integrated Development of Wild life Habitats’, he said.

Five National Parks and 13 Wildlife sanctuaries are presently being controlled and looked after by the State Wildlife Protection Department, he said.

Three species Hangul, Markhor and snow Leopard are specifically covered under Species Recovery Programme (SRP), he said. 

Filed At: Feb 28, 2010 17:24 IST ,  Edited At: Feb 28, 2010 17:24 IST

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?675487

Snow leopard cub rescued from Kashmir

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_snow-leopard-cub-rescued-from-kashmir_1348060

ANI

Monday, February 15, 2010 15:01 ISTBotengu (Kashmir): Wildlife wardens assisted by forest rangers rescued a three-month old snow leopard cub after it had strayed into a human habitation at Botengu village from Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. “The cub was hiding in the kitchen of the house. We didn’t tranquillise it but we relied on certain medicines to cow it down,” said Mohammed Ashraf Khan, a wildlife warden.
The animal was later taken to the office of the Divisional Conservator of Forests where veterinarians examined it.
After the vets declared it as a healthy cub, the rangers relocated at to the near by jungle.
Locals hailed the prompt action taken by the wildlife department.
“Wildlife officials did a fantastic job…the cub strayed into the locality from the nearby area…we are happy after the forest officials captured it,” said Sabzaar Khan, a resident.
India has the third-largest population of these spotted wild cats after China and Mongolia — of which around half are inhabited in Kashmir. (ANI)

Project launched to save endangered snow leopard (India)

SRINAGAR, FRIDAY, 14 MUHARRAM 1431 AH ; FRIDAY, JANUARY 01, 2010 CE

Project launched to save endangered snow leopard

ARIF SHAFI WANI

Srinagar, Dec 31: The State Government has started work on an ambitious project to save the existing population of the endangered Snow Leopard in its bastion, the higher reaches of Ladakh with focus on its habitat improvement. After receiving financial assistance from the Centre, the wildlife authorities have started work on the ‘Project Snow leopard’ in Ladakh. The project will span 3500 sq kms including Hemis High Altitude National Park in Ladakh. Pertinently snow leopards are mostly found in mountainous regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Poached for its attractive fur, organs and bones, just 4500 to 7000 snow leopards left in the world and India is home to approximately 400 to 600 of them. However as sixty percent of snow leopards have been found in Ladakh region, it has been included in the Species Recovery Programme being funded through the umbrella scheme ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats’. “We have completed micro-planning and identified the areas with huge concentration of leopards in Ladakh. Besides we have started the process to develop infrastructure and capacity building of staff,” wildlife warden Ladakh, Saleem-ul-Haq, told Greater Kashmir. He said involvement of locals in the project, however, was imperative for its success. He said the department has approached wildlife experts from outside who will raise awareness about the leopard among the locals and the wildlife staff. Officials said hundreds of tourists visit Ladakh only to see the snow leopard. “To cash on this aspect, the project has kept a provision for eco-tourism wherein the locals will host the tourists in their houses. This will serve dual purpose of promoting tourism and snow leopard conservation through community participation,” he said. However, he maintained that leopards had no threat of poaching in Ladakh. “People here have strong religious beliefs and love for the wild animals. The only problem is that the leopards kill their livestock. We will stress on mitigating attacks on livestock,” he said. The authorities plan to install special trap cameras in highly concentrated areas of the snow leopard. “The special cameras will record the leopards’ movement and help the scientists to understand their behaviour in their natural habitat,” he said and added this will help in long-term conservation measures. Haq said freezing temperate was the only bottleneck for the project’s speedy implementation. The project includes developing grazing and management policies along with promotion of conservation and education awareness initiatives. Besides construction of Nature interpretation Centre, the project endeavours procurement of high resolution digital cameras, survey and census gadgets and equipments for handling human-wild animal conflicts. “One of the threats to the snow leopard is drastic decrease of its ungulate preys including wild sheep and goats. The project includes compensation packages for livestock depletion. It is mandatory to preserve the natural habitat of snow leopard for its conservation,” said Tahir Shawl a wildlife warden, who has worked extensively on the snow leopard. Pertinently the Project Snow Leopard was launched in January this year. It is being undertaken in five Himalayan states including Jammu and Kashmir with the support from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Mysore based Nature Conservation Foundation. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has sanctioned Rs 1.26 crore for the project. Importantly the Project Snow Leopard will be treated on a par with other flagship species programmes of the country such as Project Tiger and Project Elephant.

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/today/full_story.asp?Date=1_1_2010&ItemID=56&cat=1

Capturing the elusive cat

Ashwin Aghor / DNASunday, June 21, 2009 2:50 ISThttp://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_capturingMumbai: When Aishwarya Maheshwari saw a sudden cloud of dust rising along the slopes of the mountains he was surveying in the Kargil and Drass sector of Jammu & Kashmir, his hands immediately reached for the binoculars. What he saw made him tremble and smile in anticipation.He had spotted the snow leopard, one of the world’s most elusive creatures, which was giving chase to a herd of Asiatic Ibex, a species of mountain goats. “Unfortunately the memory of the 1999 conflict has overshadowed the region’s rich wildlife. It is here that one of world’s most elusive creatures, the snow leopard, roams wild and free,” said Maheshwari who is a researcher with WWF-India. During his interaction with locals, Maheshwari also learnt about the tremendous decline in wildlife sightings, post the 1999 war. So much so that even the common resident birds had disappeared.“This is the first photographic evidence of snow leopard in Kargil and Drass sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Though locals claim to have seen the animal, there was no evidence of presence of the big cat,” said Ameen Ahmed, senior communications manager, WWF-India, adding that there has been no study of wildlife done in this violence hit area. Maheshwari, in fact, is part of the WWF team that’s carrying out a base line study of wildlife in Kargil and Drass sectors. On June 13, Maheshwari was observing the hills at Kanji village, located 3850 meter above sea level, and 70 km from Kargil town. He was on my way up with three field assistants. Four km into the trek, they came across a herd of Asiatic Ibex, species of mountain goat and pug marks and scat of what looked like a carnivore.“Soon, a huge cloud of dust rose from where the Ibex were grazing. The view through my binoculars suddenly became hazy. All I could see was the wild goats running helter-skelter, in almost every direction. I desperately panned my binoculars in all directions. But, the dust that made it difficult to see anything clearly,” Maheshwari recalled.Soon, amidst the confusion, he saw a snow leopard. But after the failed attempt, the snow leopard went to a cliff.The snow leopard stayed put in front of the group for seven minutes. “As it was barely 300-400 meter away, I was tempted to go closer and capture the animal on camera. At the end of the shortest seven minutes of my life, it got up and went to the other side of the hill, out of our sight,” Maheshwari said. Early next morning, fresh scat and unclear pug marks were found on the same path. Maheshwari climbed the same hill, which he had ascended the evening before. But the snow leopard had disappeared.