Project
Summary: To save the last surviving snow leopards in their remaining ranges
and work with local communities to ensure they benefit directly from their
wildlife rather than killing it.
2007 and 2008 have been two of our busiest
years to date:
Snow Leopard Enterprises Expansion
Photo:
Nature Conservation Foundation India, Courtesy of Snow Leopard
Trust
Snow Leopard Enterprises (SLE) is the International
Snow Leopard Trust’s largest and oldest program. SLE trains
and supports herders so that they can create wool handicrafts
that can be sold worldwide. In 2007, the program expanded to include
8 new communities (roughly 80 households). It is now active in
all 7 provinces in Mongolia that have snow leopards. Also last
year, the Trust started offering participants very low-interest
micro-credit loans—something almost impossible for them to
access in the remote regions of the Gobi! These loans helped herders
to purchase such tools and spinning wheels and drum carders, which
in turn helped them to increase their product-making capacity.
International Snow Leopard Conference
In March, the International Snow Leopard
Trust co-sponsored and co-hosted the 2008 International Snow Leopard
Conference in Beijing, China along with Snow Leopard Network,
WCS, Panthera Foundation, and the Chinese Institute of Zoology.
More than 100 experts from Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India,
Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
Germany, Norway, Switzerland, the UK, and the United States attended
the conference. Most importantly, governments from 11 of the 12
snow leopard range states sent delegations to the meeting and
each developed key conservation initiatives that, when implemented,
will definitely benefit snow leopards in their countries.
Photo: Courtesy of Snow Leopard Trust
Outcomes of the conference were a much improved
snow leopard range map that helped to outline priority conservation
areas; and 3 major resolutions focused on developing conservation
action plans for each country, naming coordinators or focal points
to facilitate the work, and developing specific plans to facilitate
trans-boundary conservation projects. In addition, new relationships
were developed between governments, non-profits, and donors and
each of the countries have set aggressive new plans that will
provide increased protection for snow leopards.
Bayad’s Collar Found
Photo:
Courtesy of Snow Leopard Trust
In 2006, the International Snow Leopard
Trust placed a GPS radio collar on a female snow leopard in Pakistan.
In January 2008, the collar dropped off –as it was programmed
to do—but our team had trouble finding it. At first they
followed the collar's signal with a high-tech VHF receiver. After
this proved fruitless—team leader Jaffar Ud-Din suspects
that the area's rough terrain caused the signal to bounce around
and lead the searchers astray—SLT/WWF Staff members Muhammad
Ayub and Siraj Khan, along with Park Wildlife Watcher Zakir, decided
to build their own tracking device using an old FM radio. Finally,
in April, our dedicated team claimed the prize, high in the mountains
of Pakistan's Chitral Province.
The collar was tucked deep inside a day
den in a crevice high on a cliff face. Bayad probably went in
and slept for the day, the collar opened as programmed, and she
walked out leaving the collar behind in a very tough place for
the team to find it. Maqsood, another Park Wildlife Watcher, climbed
in the tight crevice to retrieve the device. Retrieving the collar
opens up the next phase in our groundbreaking satellite-tracking
study of wild snow leopards. The collar was designed to pinpoint
and record the cat's position using GPS technology every 8 hours,
however during the study the Trust had trouble uploading the data
via satellite as planned. Now that the collar is in hand, we will
soon access the 1,000 or more records stored in the collar itself.
This will yield a more detailed record of a snow leopard's daily
movements than we have ever had before, and greatly increase our
understanding of the cat's behavior in the wild.
Long-term Research Project Launched
In Mongolia
Photo: Kyle McCarthy Courtesy of Snow
Leopard Trust
The first long-term, comprehensive ecological
study of snow leopards is about to begin in Mongolia, a collaborative
effort involving the International Snow Leopard Trust, Snow Leopard
Conservation Fund (a Mongolia NGO), Felidae Conservation Fund,
WCS, and Mongolia’s Ministry of Nature and Environment, and
the Mongolian State University of Agriculture. The study will
run for a minimum of 10 years—twice as long as past studies.
The Mongolia study will bring together a number of the Trust’s
recent efforts, including genetic analysis, trap camera studies,
and GPS radio collaring. The information gathered will translate
directly into improved conservation measures to endure the survival
of snow leopards in the wild.
For more information about the Trust's research
projects, please visit www.snowleopard.org.
