A significant snow leopard GPS satellite collaring study was launched in November 2006 in Chitral Gol National Park, Pakistan. The collaring study resulted from a partnership between Snow Leopard Trust, WWF-Pakistan, and NWFP Wildlife Department, with funding, project collaboration and field support initiated by Felidae Conservation Fund.

The first-of-its-kind study aims to collar and release additional cats with GPS-satellite collars later this summer. Executive director Zara McDonald accompanied field researchers to northern Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province, and took part in the first capture and collaring of a female snow leopard on November 17, 2006.

A Successful Collaring

The 35 kg (78 pound) leopard was fitted with a collar that will provide researchers with an unparalleled amount of precise positional data on snow leopard movements and habitat use. The GPS device calculates the cat’s exact position several times each day and then uplinks the data via the Argos satellite system and back to the researchers by email. The information will help scientists identify the animals’ vital corridors of movement with an eye toward protecting those areas. After a year’s time, the battery in each collar will run low, triggering a release mechanism. A signal will remain active for another month or two, so researchers can retrieve the collars.

The female snow leopard was captured high on Purdum Mali ridge (which means “cave of the snow leopard” in Chitrali). This is the same ridge where Dr. George Schaller took the first picture of a wild snow leopard in the early 70s. The morning after the capture, the signal from the leopard’s collar indicated she was moving and had traveled a substantial distance overnight. BBC has since filmed the collared snow leopard at different kills, as part of an upcoming documentary to be released in the United Kingdom in late Spring 2007. BBC filmed the same cat, pre-collaring, over the previous two winters in Chitral Gol National Park.

The snow leopard was given the name Bayad-e-Kohsaar, which in Urdu means "in memory of mountains," to honor the many conservationists who lost their lives in a tragic helicopter accident in Nepal in the fall of 2006.

Elusive Animals

Snow leopards live in the rugged mountains of central and southeast Asia in a region that crosses into 12 nations. Because their habitat is so inaccessible to humans, they've seldom been observed in the wild. The animals are also quite shy around humans. Even in the rare instances where they've been disturbed during a kill, they’re likely to flee rather than defend their catch.

The endangered animals, who number somewhere between 3,000 and 7,000, are under threat from loss of their natural prey (mostly wild sheep and goats), poaching for their magnificent skins, and retribution from livestock owners. Education efforts are helping villagers safeguard their livestock and find alternative sources of income in an attempt to curtail poaching.