GREEN MINUTE NEWS:
The presence of snow leopards in Thajiwas landscape of Kashmir has brought three cheers to conservation of this elusive species. According to National Snow Leopard Assessment, the snow leopards are found in four Himalayan states and two Union territories of India. And they are – Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir.
According to a survey done in 2024, there are an estimated 718 snow leopards in India with Ladakh alone having the highest density of population at 477 individuals. Snow leopards are a Schedule-I species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 while under the IUCN Red List, they have been declared as a Vulnerable species. The population has been threatened by poaching, revenge killings (as they prey on livestock), habitat fragmentation & climate change.
Often called the “phantom of the Himalayas” or the “ghost of the mountains”, the snow leopards stand as a symbol of ecological balance, quietly shaping the fragile mountain ecosystems it inhabits in India. Construction of roads, highways and other linear structures has taken a toll on their population while the rapid melting of glaciers in the Ladakh region and Jammu & Kashmir is another climatic factor that has impacted this species.
RESEARCH, CONSERVATION EFFORTS
In this background, there has been an ongoing research and conservation efforts to protect one of India’s most elusive big cats, the snow leopard (Panthera uncia). In 2021, researchers from conservation organization Wildlife SOS initiated a snow leopard study in the Thajiwas Sanctuary, Jammu & Kashmir, a key corridor linking the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh.
Through field surveys and 179 stakeholder interviews, the team confirmed the presence of snow leopards across 355 km of terrain at an elevation of 2,900-5,000 meters through pugmarks, scrapes, and scats.
Snow leopards are not just mountain icons; they are guardians of balance in the Himalayas. If we lose them, the entire ecosystem unravels. “Our research and partnerships aim to ensure that conservation at these altitudes is rooted in both science and compassion,” says Kartick Satyanarayan, CEO of Wildlife SOS.
PRESENCE OF SNOW LEOPARDS IN KASHMIR
Even as research and survey continued in the Himalayan landscape and documentation was done, new findings were reported. These findings revealed that 89 percent of the snow leopard’s diet comprised livestock, reflecting the overlap between pastoral lands and snow leopard habitats, and the looming threat of human-snow leopard conflict in these high-altitude zones.
These findings aligned with the National Snow Leopard Assessment which identified the presence of snow leopards in Himalayan bound states. Wildlife SOS was the first to document evidence of the snow leopard’s presence in the Kashmir landscape through pugmark identification.
COMMUNITY-CONSERVATION STRATEGY IN KASHMIR
Following these findings, the Jammu & Kashmir Wildlife Protection Department installed camera traps that captured photographic confirmation of the snow leopard species in Kashmir. In this regard, a three-year study in Kashmir’s Kishtwar region was taken up to estimate snow leopard numbers and distribution using camera traps.
Aaliya Mir, Head of the J&K programme, Wildlife SOS said, “Snow leopards are an umbrella species; when they thrive, entire ecosystems flourish. Every effort to protect them safeguards countless other species. We are also inspiring young people to value and protect this magnificent animal as conserving the snow leopard means investing in the future of our mountains.”
MITIGATING THE VARIOUS THREATS
To mitigate threats such as overgrazing, livestock disease, and infrastructure pressures from pilgrimage routes like the Amarnath Yatra, the Jammu & Kashmir Wildlife Protection Department is advancing a multi-tiered conservation strategy in partnership with Wildlife SOS.
It was in 2008 that Project Snow Leopard, a national initiative was launched which was aimed at conserving snow leopards and their habitats while involving local communities in the process. Plans are afoot to making predator-proof livestock corrals, vaccination drives, graze-free zones, waste management, and community awareness programs that promote coexistence while restoring ecological balance.
YEAR-ROUND PRESENCE
The Jammu & Kashmir Wildlife Protection Department in cooperation with wildlife experts and NGOs like Nature Conservation Foundation (after a three-year-camera trap study with 3000 traps) has revealed the year-round presence and breeding activities of snow leopards in the landscape of Kashmir (Kishtwar region). This in fact, was a major breakthrough in wildlife conservation at high altitudes of snow-capped mountains of Kashmir. This has also demonstrated that conservation efforts are going in the right direction with a presence of 12-20 individuals of snow leopards.
Further, it is heartening that the snow leopards have been removed from the endangered to the vulnerable category under the IUCN Red List. Presently, the global snow leopard population is estimated to be 4000-6500 with India having only one-nineth of the population in the Himalayan bound regions of the country.
(PHOTO CREDIT: ALL PHOTOS OF SNOW LEOPARDS & HABITAT BY WILDLIFE SOS, KASHMIR)