A close encounter with a Snow Leopard, from WWF UK Senior Asia Advisor Nicola Loweth

I know how difficult it is to see the ‘ghost of the mountains’ so I couldn’t believe it when I heard a snow leopard had been spotted nearby, the day I arrived in the high-altitude Himalayan region of Ladakh. It had been seen killing a domestic animal, and although my first instinct was to rush to see it, we decided to wait until sunrise. Snow leopards typically stay at a kill site for 3-4 days, so I was reassured it wouldn't move within the next 24 hours. Interestingly, snow leopards tend to spend longer at sites whether they have hunted wild prey compared to sites where they kill livestock – probably because domestic animal kills are often closer to human settlements or in relatively flatter, more accessible – and therefore more risky-areas.  

At dawn the following day, we headed to a rural area about 30 minutes from Leh. Amazingly, the snow leopard was easily visible from the road, blending into the golden coloured rocks. We scrambled up the side of the valley to get a better view – and watched in awe. The snow leopard sat in the shade of the rocks, resting and watching the occasional car past by. Despite their elusive nature, snow leopards sometimes venture closer to human settlements, especially as their prey base dwindles due to human activity. This has led to more frequent attacks on attacks on domestic animals such as yaks, cows, dzos, sheep and goats in Ladakh. 

Our recent research has found communities have a high level of tolerance towards livestock losses when only one or two animals are killed, often whilst grazing – like in this case – but tolerance is greatly reduced when herders experience mass killings. For example, when a predator kills multiple livestock when they are kept in pens at night. This can lead to retaliatory killings. Snow leopards aren’t the only culprits though. In this landscape, wolves are responsible for livestock losses too.   

Funded through the UK Government’s Darwin Initiative our project “Reviving Trans-Himalayan Rangelands: A community-led vision for people and nature”, is trying to address some of these problems by helping herders protect their livestock at night – when mass killings are more likely and when livestock are unsupervised.  To date, we’ve helped construct three predator proof corrals in the villages of Hanle, Tsage and Radhar, protecting approximately 1800 livestock. Co-designed with local community members, these corrals are built using a 6 feet high wire-mesh installed over a 2 feet high stone wall to prevent under-digging by predators. We’re also testing the use of foxlights at deterring predators, deploying a total of 59 devices in three high conflict areas. These lights are solar powered that flicker using three different colours at random time intervals, with the intention of mimicking a person carrying a flashlight. 

Over time, we’ll monitor the success of these measures in reducing loss of livestock and improving human-wildlife coexistence. While I never met the herder who lost his livestock to the snow leopard, I reflected on the delicate balance between conserving these magnificent animals and supporting the livelihoods of local communities.