Wildlife Conservation Mongolia Project #25845

Protecting Snow Leopards

by David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation

Project Report | May 22, 2023
Protecting Snow Leopards - May Update

By Jo B | Senior Fundraising Executive

Snow Leopard Presnel - Snow Leopard Trust

The snow leopard is a flagship species for conservation in the mountains of south-central Asia and is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Snow leopards are shy, elusive, and one of the least studied of the big cats.

Mongolia’s snow leopard population, based on extensive population monitoring and camera surveys, is estimated at 953. Our ground-based conservation partners are primarily monitoring four snow leopard populations in South Gobi, totalling roughly 80 adults. In the Tost-Tosonbumba Nature Reserve, they continue to monitor and conduct research on several multi-generational families of snow leopards thanks to both GPS-collaring and camera trapping.

Through this long-term ecological study of snow leopards in Mongolia, which started in 2008, our partners have now published 33 scientific papers – making a huge contribution to our understanding of these big cats. Five papers were published in 2022 alone, focusing on important topics such as snow leopard ecology and behaviour, risks and disease, and best practices on snow leopard research and conservation.

With DSWF’s continued support, our partners aim to strengthen their long-term ecological study of wild snow leopards in southern Mongolia. Plans for 2023 include two GPS-collaring seasons that will involve the capture, collaring and release of snow leopards and ibex. Snow leopard surveys will be carried out using camera traps over ~8,000 km² of the South Gobi, where the cameras can be rotated between different mountains throughout the year. Wild ibex and argali population assessments will also be conducted to gain a better understanding of the populations of important snow leopard prey species.

Education and Community

Snow leopards and people share space, which can lead to human-wildlife conflict, including predation of livestock by snow leopards. Sadly, this can often lead to retaliatory killings of snow leopards by herders and farmers after conflict arises.

There is a continual need to work with communities so that people act in ways beneficial for snow leopards, and that they also benefit from protecting them. DSWF continues to support a community-based handicraft program called Snow Leopard Enterprises, which helps provide women living in herder communities with additional income and increases empathy and understanding for snow leopards. This programme was created in direct response to herder needs and is reinforced by conservation agreements that protect snow leopards and their wild prey.

In 2018, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation funded the launch of an environmental education programme in Kyrgyzstan and have continued to support it since. In remote mountain communities, children are rarely exposed to formal conservation education, and if there are such classes in school, they are often disconnected from the local ecology. The education programme has been hugely successful in combatting this and improving conservation awareness. Since the programme started, our partners have been able to:

Start a summer eco-camp programme and learning centre for children.
Support and motivate teachers to improve environmental education in schools.
Increase children’s awareness of local ecology and conservation issues through new and improved educational materials and activities.
Adapt environmental education modules for virtual platforms.
Reinforce peaceful human-snow leopard coexistence through community-based conservation initiatives, like predator-proof enclosures to protect livestock.

Many of the programme activities engage children in conservation actions that directly benefit their households, communities, and environment – such as planting and protecting trees, and disposing of leaves by composting instead of burning.

This year, with your support, DSWF will continue to provide funds to grow the education programme, work closely with communities to provide sustainable livelihoods and foster peaceful co-existence and support the ongoing long term ecological study and monitoring of snow leopards in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.

Stay up to date with our work and how your generous support is making a difference; receive exciting wildlife conservation stories and hear about forthcoming campaigns, fundraising initiatives and events: Stay In Touch

Conservation Student Execursion Snow Leopard Trust

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Jan 18, 2023
Protecting Snow Leopards - January Update

By Jo B | Supporter Care

Dagina - Camera Trap Image - Snow Leopard Trust

In the past six months, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) funding in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan has directly supported snow eopard GPS-collaring expenses, community-based educational opportunities including eco-camps for children, conservation engagement activities within the community including Snow Leopard Day Celebrations, and a community enterprises handicrafts program.

The easing of covid-19 restrictions in 2022 have allowed our ground-based conservation partners conservation work to resume at pre-pandemic levels in Mongolia. The international science team has been able to travel to Mongolia and conduct successful GPS-collaring work of snow leopards and ibex. Collaring work remains a major component of the long-term ecological study of snow leopards that began in 2008, which is conducted in Tost Nature Reserve, and in the neighbouring mountains. Three snow leopards (two females and one male) have been collared in the past six month. In addition, three ibex (two females and one male) have also been collared as means to monitor prey populations. With new snow leopards and ibex collared, we are now able to follow their movements and generate maps and track habitat use. Other components of the study include snow leopard population surveys using camera traps, and wild prey surveys.

Community Engagement

During the last six months, ten rangers have patrolled the Tost Nature Reserve on motorcycles and on foot for any signs of poaching or illegal activities. Seven of these rangers are local herders who donate their time and receive small stipends and money for fuel for their conservation efforts. To further support communities in the area in the past 6 months, the snow leopard enterprises program has engaged 141 women from 27 herder communities in south and western Mongolia. In a new development, several communities in the region have begun making products for the domestic market, including hand spun, natural camel wool yarn for knitting and camel wool thread for stitching. These programs are vital in engaging the local villages in eco-friendly practices which provide them with sustainable incomes thereby reducing their need to encroach on the natural environment for resources, income, or food.

With DSWF support, our partners have developed educational materials to complement school curriculums on subjects such as climate change, ecotourism, and the snow leopard as a symbol of high mountain ecosystems. These resources have been shared with teachers at 20 schools. In addition, over 70 students from 17 schools attended the project’s eco-camps in the past six months. The recent camps introduced a new activity called “Mongolia’s Changing Landscape,” with a focus on pollution and climate change. In addition, the children were taught how to set a camera trap amongst other environmental based activities focused on conservation, with the aim for the students to learn about camera trapping and the importance of nature and protected areas.

World Snow Leopard Day was celebrated globally on 23^rd October. The organised activities supported by DSWF in Mongolia saw 1,500 people participating in the celebrations from a total of 16 herder communities. This is the most communities that has ever engaged in snow leopard day and is a great sign that there is increasing community support for conservation of the iconic big cat of the mountains.

Stay up to date with our work and how your generous support is making a difference, receive exciting wildlife conservation stories and hear about forthcoming campaigns, fundraising initiatives and events: Stay In Touch

Eco-Camp - Snow Leopard Trust

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Sep 21, 2022
Protecting Snow Leopards - September Update

By Jo B | Supporter Care & Database Executive

Camera Trap Image - Snow Leopard Trust

DSWF’s support is making significant impact towards conservation of snow leopards in Mongolia, the second most important snow leopard range country in the world after China. Threats to snow leopards in Mongolia include retaliatory killing due to livestock depredation, climate change and pressures from intensive livestock grazing, poaching and illegal killing of snow leopards and their wild prey, habitat loss due to mining, and inadequate conservation awareness among local communities.

DSWF’s ground-based conservation partners, The Snow Leopard Trust, program supports seven community rangers who patrolled a total of 5,750 kilometres on foot and a further 12,500 kilometres on motorcycles within Tost Nature Reserve in the last year. An estimated 3,500-7,000 snow leopards remain in the wild in the mountains of Asia. The Snow Leopard Trusts’ research in southern Mongolia has contributed to the latest Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards. Based on data from a total of 1,500 camera traps, the preliminary estimate places Mongolia’s snow leopard population at 953 individuals. A multi-year population assessment of snow leopards in the Tost Nature Reserve between 2009 and 2018 suggested there was a minimum of 13-15 adult snow leopards. These numbers represent a stable, breeding population of snow leopards in the region. The Tost Nature Reserve connects the Great Gobi and Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, making it safer for wildlife to move between the three protected areas. Only traditional herding practices are allowed in the protected areas, whereas hunting, mining and construction are prohibited.

In 2021, the Snow Leopard Trust publicly announced their new snow leopard estimate findings while continuing to review data from a handful of remaining camera trap sites. They hope to reach a final and more accurate estimate later in 2022 and will then publish the findings in a peer-review article. It is anticipated that with the final estimate, Mongolia will be the first of the 12 snow leopard range countries to reach a reliable estimate of its snow leopard population—a huge milestone that DSWF’s long-term support has helped make possible.

Working towards the long-term goal to secure greater protection for snow leopards in Mongolia, the Snow Leopard Trust are expanding and strengthening collaborations with rural communities through income stabilising programs (enterprises such as handicrafts, livestock insurance, corral improvements and an industry program for domestic dairy product sales). 194 women from herder communities in south and west Mongolia participated in the enterprise program in the past year. These programs help increase understanding and tolerance for snow leopards, which leads to more positive attitudes towards conservation and reduces retribution killing of snow leopards.

Find out more about our work with snow leopards

Camera Trap Image - Snow Leopard Trust

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