Rare presence of snow leopard recorded in the Valley

The surveys are being conducted to understand the presence and abundance of snow leopards under a govt-funded project

A recent camera trapping has recorded the first-ever presence of a snow leopard in high altitudes of the upper Baltal-Zojila region of Kashmir much to the delight of wildlife conservators.

The camera trapping exercises by researchers from Nature Conservation Foundation (India), in partnership with Jammu and Kashmir Department of Wildlife Protection, have raised hopes for other important and rare species such as the Asiatic ibex, brown bear and Kashmir musk deer.

The surveys are being conducted to understand the presence and abundance of snow leopards under the Snow Leopard Population Assessment of India (SPAI) project funded by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change.

The iconic and culturally treasured great cat is a good indicator species as it quickly reacts to habitat disturbances and its successful conservation requires sustainable long-term systemic solutions to the threats impacting the quality of habitats, said Munib Khanyari, Program Manager at Nature Conservation Foundation.

He said there is extremely limited evidence of snow leopard occurrence across the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. “This finding brings renewed hope to Kashmir and its high-altitude regions, as the presence of the snow leopard can be used as a conservation flagship to address high-mountain development issues for people and the environment,” Khanyari said.

He said in the coming days more such findings from ongoing surveys are expected from these landscapes. “The camera trapping exercise also revealed other important and rare species such as Asiatic ibex, Brown Bear and Kashmir Musk Deer, besides incredible information regarding other biodiversity components of such habitats, interactions and threats will be documented in the shape of a final report,” he added.

The team involved in the survey included Aashiq Dar from Tangmarg (Baramula), Aijaz Raina from Sarbal (near Sonamarg), Tanzin Thuktan, Rinchen Tobge and Kesang Chunit from Kibber (Himachal Pradesh). The exercise was under the supervision of Suresh Kumar Gupta, Chief Wildlife Warden and Rashid Y. Naqash, Regional Wildlife Warden, Kashmir.