Usually found ( or not ) merge into the rocky terrain and high - altitude plateaus of the coke - capped Himalayas , the snow leopard is one of the most beautiful and elusive animals in the world . alas , it is one of the most endangered too .
A novel study from TRAFFIC , a wildlife business deal monitoring NGO , has reckon that there are around 4,000 Charles Percy Snow leopards left in the wild and between 221 and 450 are being killed every year . That ’s four a calendar week .
Thereportis publish beforehand of a UN meeting on snow leopards to address the fact that their numbers are still dramatically declining , despite there being a ban on killing them in all 12 Asian nation where they are found .
Snow leopards have been officially heel as an endangered specie by theIUCN Red Listsince 2003 .
TRAFFIC also admits the numbers could be much higher as it is hard to supervise the poaching or drink down in distant spate regions .
Just under one-half of the death are due to poaching and selling the pelts and body function ( like bones and claw ) for luxuriousness point and traditional medicines in Asia . More astonishingly , the absolute majority of the leopard expiry were from “ retaliatory ” killings by local farmers due to attacks on their stock or from using non - targeted predator snares . The leopards ' born prey , such as the Capra ibex , are also decreasing due to encroaching farmland .
The study also found that there was a descent in the bit of animals specifically poached for the illegal trade in pelts , making up just 21 percent of the annual chassis , paint a picture a fall in the market peradventure due to tighter practice of law enforcement .
However , at least half of the retaliatory killings ended up being opportunistically sell – not so surprising when a carcase can arrive at up to $ 10,000 .
Now you see me … Peter Wey / Shutterstock
To slim the telephone number of animals belt down , the write up suggests dealing with the outstanding prompt threat of human - wildlife engagement . It advocate local governments get require with communities to create leopard - proof corals for livestock and offset the monetary value of livestock exit .
“ Even if there is boil down requirement for Charles Percy Snow Panthera pardus skins , the violent death will proceed unless we all work together to drastically come down human - wildlife battle and ensure that mountain communities can co - exist with snow leopards , ” said Rishi Sharma , WWF Snow Leopard Programme leader and co - author of the report , in astatement .
The report also calls for strengthen law enforcement , especially of home and transboundary border . According to TRAFFIC , less than a tail of know cases of poaching are investigate and just one in seven are prosecute .
“ [ Now ] we need to expand efforts to supervise activity on the Internet and social media as snow leopard seller may be propel online to stress to evade law enforcement,”concludedKristin Nowell , lead author of the story .
