Lion, jaguar and leopard body parts are being increasingly sought as substitutes to tiger products by wildlife traffickers, a major UN report has found, but demand for ivory and rhino horn has shown signs of a sustained fall. Wildlife trafficking continues to pose a major threat to nature, global biodiversity and human health, the UN’s […]
Tag: snow leopard
Snow Leopards Are No Longer Endangered, But They’re Also Not Safe
Snow leopards received some good news with a status change from Endangered to Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but advocates for these elusive cats are warning that it’s not quite time to celebrate yet. Snow leopards have been classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species […]
POLL: Should trophy hunting in Kyrgystan be banned?
BOKONBAYEVO, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyz folklore is laden with stories that warn its adherents against the over-hunting of animals. In one foreboding tale, Kodzhodzash, the leader of the Ak-Bars tribe, brutally ignores the wish of a female ibex, shooting dead her child and her mate.“May your father cry over you as I cry over my murdered […]
Global leaders head critical summit to save the snow leopard and its habitat
International Snow Leopard Summit and Ecosystem Forum, 23- 25 August, Bishkek Kyrgyzstan: World leaders will begin critical talks over the future of the snow leopard and its habitat; the headwaters for rivers on which hundreds of millions directly depend as a source of freshwater. WWF urges snow leopard range countries*, which include political powerhouses China, […]
POLL: Should the illegal rhino horn trade be shut down?
How do you disrupt the illicit rhino horn supply chain from Africa to Asia? That’s the question spurring a new investigation into rhino horn trafficking in China and Vietnam undertaken by the Elephant Action League (EAL), a Los Angeles-based conservation NGO. Rhinos are being decimated by poaching. In South Africa, home to almost 80 percent […]
The Snow Leopard’s best friend
Zoo exhibits and photographs are as close as Shafqat Hussain has ever gotten to snow leopards. But in the Himalaya mountains of northern Pakistan, he might be their best ally. Trained as an economist and anthropologist, Hussain became a de facto wildlife conservationist after working on sustainable rural development projects in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region. There, […]
POLL: Should snow leopards be protected by stronger law enforcement?
Hundreds of snow leopards are being killed every year across the mountains of central Asia, threatening the already endangered big cat, according to a new report. There are as few as 4,000 of the solitary and elusive cat remaining and numbers have fallen by a fifth in the last 16 years. But between 220 and […]
The Indian village learning to live in harmony with snow leopards
In the high altitude treeless expanses of Kibber, Himachal Pradesh, India, snow leopards use boulders and ridgelines to stalk blue sheep and Himalayan ibex. But they also feast on yak calves and horse foals, much to the chagrin of villagers. These animals fetch a pretty penny, and the compensation paid by the state was so […]