In the dusk the majestic cat almost imperceptibly goes hunting. Predator should be silently forward in search of food, her thick silver-gray fur is good camouflage, blending with the surrounding nature. Birthplace of the snow leopard - the mountainous regions of central Asia
This animal is awake only at night and is the most solitary and secretive among the big cats, and also the rarest. For now in nature, there are only 3500 of leopards in 12 Asian countries, including Afghanistan and Mongolia, where they are constantly hunting.
In Afghanistan, the population of snow leopards has only a few hundred individuals because of the constant hunt for them. Nevertheless, the National Office for Environmental Protection is trying to fight against poachers. Recently, information was received that the villagers caught the leopard, luring him into a trap. About it immediately notified the appropriate structure was set up raid and rescued the animal. This case can serve as a good reason for optimism, perhaps the destruction of these beautiful animals gradually stops. Even in Afghanistan, where the protection of natural resources is hardly a priority, making sure to keep the population of the rare animals
Still, the dependence of the snow leopard from a man too big. Tom McCarthy, director of the nonprofit organization Panthera's Snow Leopard highlighted the fact that one of the threats to this animal is that it lives in the countryside, where the only fishing for people is animal husbandry. And when the livestock is constantly decreasing, catching leopards - the only way to survive for the local population
Panthera organization creates its own programs that can coexist snow leopard, and people. They work with local shepherds and pastoralists, teaching them improved methods of farming. In Pakistan, they are free vaccinations for livestock, increasing resistance to various diseases, which allows you to save the livestock. Under these conditions, the loss of several head of cattle as a result of hunting leopard is no longer such a tragedy
OrMongolskim shepherds offer to do crafts, which are then sold to zoos in Europe and the U.S., thereby giving them money. If by the end of the year community did not kill the snow leopard, then each resident receives a premium. But the program to preserve the population does not end there.
The first leopard collar was so loaded Atstai when the organization is only the beginning of the study in August 2008. The team collected data for a year before the battery has a beacon. The battery replaced, and will monitor Atstai another year, collecting information that will help develop better strategies for the conservation populations of these rare cats
In 2009, the team found that Atstai lost a finger on one leg, hitting a trap for wolves. Even though the snow leopard is protected by law, and his murder is punishable by heavy fines, are hard to enforce laws in a vast country with an underdeveloped infrastructure.
Attempts to learn more about these "Phantom Mountain" (Irbis in Mongolian) to continue and hope for their survival remains in spite of numerous threats to this species. The key to their survival was the fact that they live in the most extreme and remote places on Earth
The organization conducts research aimed at studying the habits and movements of the snow leopard. Home base Panthera's Trust is in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. Attracted a lot of money and new technologies, an area of 500 square miles had been placed 40 cameras, all the leopards were wearing collars with built-in gps beacon to monitor the movement of animals
