"Snow Leopards Need To Be Protected ... But How?"

Photograph by George B. Schaller, National Geographic

Click here to see original article.

Written By:

Christine Dell'Amore

National Geographic News

Published October 9, 2012

In Pakistan, snow leopards are an endangered species with a population in the country of 450, primarily due to hunting. These cats stay in the Himalaya, sharing their habitat with mountain herders, and often are killed in retaliation for preying on the herders' livestock. Shafqat Hussain, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, explains that a way to enable snow leopards to survive is not to create protected areas that displace them from local communities, as it would cause many farmers to lose their grazing areas. He has suggested supporting local herders in making a living despite incursions, which he's been doing for over a decade. Hussain founded the Snow Leopard Project in 1999 which compensates local people for predation on their livestock. As a result, the snow leopard population seems to have remained stable if not grown.

What catches my attention is the extremely low population of this species in a given region, almost to the point of not existing there. However, measures are being made to prevent further loss in count due to the Snow Leopard Project which locals surprisingly have no major problem with. This article leads one to be curious about the global population of the snow leopard and whether to be concerned about observing the bigger picture.

- Andrew