SNOW LEOPARD

The snow leopard is more closely related to the tiger. Probably fewer than 6,500 remain in
the wild. The largest populations are in China and Mongolia, with significant populations in
India and Kyrgyzstan as well. Its natural prey include blue sheep and ibex, but in some
areas, it is heavily dependent on domestic animals. The farmers who depend upon the
animals shoot the “problem” leopards. Poaching still constitutes a major threat to the
species, as does overhunting of its natural prey species.

Protection of Snow Leopards:

There have been many multi-year program created by ‘Wildlife Conservation Society to help
protect a significant proportion of Gilgit-Baltistan Province in Pakistan, Uzbekistan and China
and the snow leopard's key prey species in much of the region. The program, which began
formally in 1997, includes wildlife surveys, community-based education, and institution
building for resource management. This includes the creation of over 65 resource
committees covering over 400,000 villagers, and over 100 community rangers that monitor
snow leopards and other wildlife and stop poaching. Poaching in this landscape has declined
dramatically and their prey populations have increased by over 50% in the past decade, a
great sign for snow leopards.
 TIGER

There are nine different types of tigers. Three of these kinds are extinct. The Siberian Tiger
is one that scientists are very concerned about, because they may become extinct in the
immediate future, due to their few number left in the wild. There are so few, that they are
classified as critically endangered. There is only one type of tiger that is more endangered
than the Siberian Tiger, which is the South China Tiger.

The South China Tiger is one of the ten most endangered animals in the entire world
according to china.org. There is believed to be only fifty-nine South China Tigers alive, and
none live in their original habitat. This means they are extinct in the wild.

Bengal Tigers are another endangered animal, but unlike the South China Tiger, they still
live in the wild. They believe that there is less than two thousand.

Protection of Tigers:

In India, we have introduced ‘Project Tiger’ which bans poaching of tigers. In 1988, China
passed the Law on the Protection of Wildlife, listing the tiger as a Category I protected
species. In 1993, China banned the trade on tiger parts, which led to a drop in the number
of tiger bones harvested for use in traditional Chinese medicine. One of the biggest threats
to tiger populations is habitat fragmentation. A program called the Terai-Arc Landscape
(TAL) has been working directly with improving tiger habitats, specifically fragmented
habitats in Nepal and northern India. The Save The Tiger (STF) organization has contributed
over $10.6 million and participated in a total of 196 conservation efforts that provide a
number of services to help to mitigate the human-tiger conflict, protect tiger habitats,
research tiger ecology, monitor tiger populations, and educate locals on the importance of
saving the tiger. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) efforts lie in protecting landscapes where
they feel tigers have the highest chance of surviving and increasing, preventing poaching,
and working to decrease demand for tiger parts.