To protect the numbers of this sleek, magnificent cat, 12 snow leopard range countries have declared 2015 as the International Year of the Snow Leopard.
The range countries include Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. This cross-border understanding will help a unified tracking of numbers and the teamwork should make it easier to protect the elusive snow leopard’s ecosystem. The commitment is to protect at least 20 landscapes as secure snow leopard habitat by 2020. Not to mention keeping nasty poachers under control.
At Hemis National Park. India. Photo: Snow Leopard Conservancy/Jammu Kashmir Wildlife Protection Department via Wikimedia Commons
Wonder how the snow leopard survives in cold, high mountains? Its powerful build allows it to scale great steep slopes, its hind legs enable the cat to leap six times the length of its body. The long tail provides balance and agility and multitasks as a wrap for protection from the cold.
If you’d like to help, you could go on a trek to some of the remotest parts of the world and raise funds, volunteer or donate to reputed organisations. For millennia, this magnificent cat was the king of the mountains. Can you imagine a world without snow leopards?