One whole corner of the gift shop explains how the sale of these items helps save the snow leopard in the wild. A few months ago, Dr. Tom McCarthy, the Conservation Director for the Snow Leopard Trust, came to Big Cat Rescue and wowed us with his stories of tracking the elusive cat and he shared with us a breathtaking slide show of the cats living wild and free. Even those of us who hate the cold found ourselves thinking how marvelous it would be to hike up so high that the air was barely enough to breathe, to face the dangers of steep rocky trails and great icy ravines just so we might catch one fleeting glimpse of these magnificent snow leopards living in all their glory at the top of the world.
We were so inspired that we began promoting the Snow Leopard Enterprise items in the gift shop more than ever. We understood just how crucial each sale was to protect of these exquisite cats. On September 27, the Executive Director of the Snow Leopard Trust, Brad Rutherford, came to Big Cat Rescue to tell us more about the work that is being done to save the snow leopard from the aspect of building relationships.
Whether it is in your family, in your business, in your country or on your planet, it all comes down to relationships. Most of the people who share the same highlands with the snow leopard are herders and to them, the loss of one sheep or goat can mean the difference in their survival.
Most of the snow leopards that are killed are retribution killings; meaning that the cat has been blamed for killing one of the herd and the herdsman has killed the next snow leopard he saw. The herdsman can eat the cat and sell the hide for There are many other middle men along the way who are anxious to get their hands on a snow leopard pelt or penis for the Asian medicinal trade or for the black market.
Brad pointed out, that it is a good thing that the dead animal is worth so little to the people who are most responsible for killing them however as that makes this practice far more financially feasible to stop.
In some cases, they can create handicrafts like those we sell and make five times what they can make from herding. Over the years, the Snow Leopard Trust has brought in marketing people and craftsmen to show the local people how to create items that are marketable. In some cases, parasites wipe out 10 times as many of their livestock as do predators, so by providing vaccines and wormers, they can help the herders save far more of their flock. What the Snow Leopard Trust does, differently than most who have come before, is that they LISTEN, find solutions that everyone is happy with and they make the programs self sustaining so that the indigenous people can take pride in their accomplishments and not be reliant on charity.
The programs are structured with reducing reliance on Snow Leopard Trust funds for each consecutive year and to remain in the program the community must ensure that no snow leopards are killed. If anyone in the community kills a snow leopard, the entire community risks losing their right to participate in the program for a year and that is enough to keep everyone watching out for the snow leopard. Their claims of protection must verified by the game wardens and governmental agencies who actually have incentives to discover poaching because they are often paid a portion of the confiscation if they can catch a poacher.
We may never get to see one of these glorious cats leaping 40 feet from one rocky ledge to another in an effortless ballet but we can watch our Snow Leopard Trust Screen Savers and imagine what it would be like to stand there in awe at the sight of them living free and we can do it knowing that by purchasing the screensavers and other great Snow Leopard Enterprise items online we helped make that dance possible.
Big Cat Rescue is saving snow leopards. We post the latest in snow leopard news here and in our newsletter Cat Tales. See what you can do to help save these exotic cats in captivity and in the wild. Great Cats are in peril around the world and need people like you, who care about snow leopards and other exotic cats to help save them from the brink of extinction.
Big Cat Rescue is working to make it illegal to sell snow leopards as pets and is diligently striving to improve conditions for big cats in zoos and circuses. The Wildlife Conservation Network is an organization that shares our belief that the money should go to the animals and not be wasted on salaries and benefits for those who are doing the fundraising. Rodney Jackson and Darla Hilliard wrote Vanishing Tracks about their field work for four years in the Himalayas with the elusive snow leopard.
Snow leopards are the most elusive of the great cats — perfectly camouflaged for their rocky mountain habitat in the Himalayas and the mountains of Central Asia. Despite living in some of the harshest terrain on earth, and at the highest altitudes, snow leopards are seriously threatened in the wild. These cats share the high mountains with nomadic herders who eke out a subsistence living with their yaks, horses, sheep and goats on the alpine pastures.
Conflicts arise between these tough mountain people and snow leopards when occasionally the cats try to take domestic livestock, which the people depend on for every aspect of their life. When this happens, the people sometimes try to kill the cats in retribution.
Poverty leaves them no other option. In return for the extra income herders commit to specific actions that will help the snow leopard. This program is called Irbis Enterprises Irbis means snow leopard in many central Asian languages, including Mongolian ISLT also supports ways of reducing livestock losses so that conflicts do not occur so often. You can directly support these efforts by joining the International Snow Leopard Trust or — even better — by purchasing some of the handicrafts made by the people who are the MOST important link in ensuring the cats survive in the wild for ever.
Go to the Irbis Enterprises Web-site to see products made by the herders and to learn more about conservation efforts in Mongolia www. You can buy some of these items on line in our secure gift shop. Look for Snow Leopard. Climate change is now putting the future of their mountain home at even greater risk.
Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. One of the best ways to help is through general donations that can be used however it is most needed at the time.
To make a general donation just click the Donate Now button below. It can be said that without the snow leopard, the Himalayan ecosystem will be negatively affected and this will impact the health of the rivers too - source of our fresh water - without which life as we know it, appears impossible to visualise. Snow leopards are top predators in their environment, and their prey includes Siberian ibex Capra sibrica , blue sheep Pseudois nayaur , Himalayan tahr Hemitragus jemlahicus , argali Ovis ammon and marmots Marmota himalayana.
Without the snow leopard, the ecological balance would be disrupted. For example — herbivore populations will increase resulting in changes in the vegetation, that will affect other wildlife and also disrupt the important ecosystem services. The Himalayan ecosystem provides food and other important resources for the many people who live there — including medicine, and wood for shelter, heat and fuel and grass for the livestock.
So, by protecting the snow leopard, it benefits the whole natural environment in these areas and the people who rely on it. Our specific approach Board of experts All projects supported Historical overview Implementing Partners Co-fund a project.
Sustainable agriculture Sustainable fishing Biodiversity conservation Sustainable technologies. Newsletters Annual reports Technical factsheets Other publications. Endangered animal species. All Endangered animal species projects ». WCS has long been a global leader in snow leopard conservation, beginning with Dr. Schaller's wildlife surveys on snow leopards and their prey in the Himalayas in the s, which resulted in his seminal books, Mountain Monarchs and Stones of Silence.
His work also contributed to Peter Matthiessen's book, The Snow Leopard, which brought international attention to the species.
In addition, Dr. Our project activities include focused research using camera traps and satellite collars, community outreach and governance building, protected area development and management, anti-poaching and anti-trafficking initiatives, monitoring, conflict management, and health assessments.
WCS continues to play a global leadership role in snow leopard conservation. High-level government officials from 11 of 12 snow leopard range countries were among the attendees. In Pakistan, WCS has created a multi-year program to help protect a significant proportion of Gilgit-Baltistan Province, which is home to the snow leopard and the snow leopard's key prey species in much of the region, the flare-horned markhor.
The program, which began formally in , includes wildlife surveys, community-based education, and institution building for resource management. This includes the creation of 65 resource committees and 22 community-managed protected areas covering over 10, square kilometers and involving approximately , villagers, and over community rangers that monitor snow leopards and other wildlife and stop poaching.
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