WWF India said there could be as few as 4,000 snow leopards left in the wild with only around 500 in India – and their numbers are continuing to fall.
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A report titled, Fragile Connections: Snow leopards, people, water and the global climate, by WWF has revealed that more than one third of the snow leopard habitat is considered unsuitable for the wild cats.
Over the years, 20% decline in the population of snow leopards can be attributed to loss of habitat as a result of degradation, community conflict and poaching.
Another animal species is being affected by the effects of global warming, which threatens to push the species from its natural habitat. The report states that as climate change causes temperatures to rise, more farmers begin to encroach on the formerly frozen region, reducing the habitat for the snow leopards’ natural prey and increasing the likelihood of conflict between the cats and humans.
Snow leopards vary over a big expanse of 12 nations – Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The WWF’s study reports that only 14 percent of these mountains have been researched or subject to conservation efforts, as evidenced by the 200-plus new species recently discovered in Central Asia. This cycle affects 21 countries in the area, including China, which is particularly vulnerable.
Sami Tornikoski, WWF’s head of the Living Himalayas Initiative, said that climate change is indeed a risk to the snow leopard’s survival but people should also keep their eye on poaching and retaliatory killings as the other factors in the impending doom of the species. The problem here is that the plants that could not thrive in higher altitude are the kind that the snow leopard’s prey usually eats.
“It’s bleak, but it surely’s not hopeless”.
Thus, according to Everest Snow Leopard Conservation Centre executive director Gao Yufang, “We require not only scientific investigations, but more interdisciplinary research to understand the social and policy underpinnings of snow leopard conservation”.
Rising temperatures could be responsible for a change in the cats’ mountainous environment. “It’s hard to know exactly what could happen in the long-term”. With them, the snow leopards will also be forced further away from their limited habitat in search for life-sustaining water. Besides these threats, the snow leopard has always been a prime target for poachers, as the elusive creature’s body parts are in high demand for their perceived medicinal properties in many Asian countries.
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“Urgent action is needed to curb climate change and prevent further degradation of snow leopard habitat”. They say ‘why would you help cats when people are in trouble, when people are struggling around the globe?’ ” Rutherford said. “The massive takeaway I’ve, after 15 years on this area, is that it is a false selection”. The forum agreed made a commitment to protect at least 20 landscapes as secure snow leopard habitat by 2020. If this does not happen, the big cats could disappear together with the vital water resource for a vast population of people.
