Morgan BellSnow Leopards caught on film
May 30th 2008 12:29
The beautiful snow leopard is a rare beast, shy to be seen and magnificent when seen. Valued for its fur and respected as a symbol of the Kazahks and the Tartars.
National Geographic has a selection of incredible photos of the big cat, caught by motion sensing cameras in Mongolia.
There are less than 10 000 of the animals left in the wild, scattered across the mountainous regions of Asia, from India and China, through Kazahkstan up to Russia.
Due to demand for the cat's fur, poaching is still a problem, even though the Dalai Lama called for an end to the killing. Does the Dalai Lama's influence spread to the far reaches of these countries?
Perhaps... though I've seen, with my own eyes, markets in the mountains where you could buy old outdated weapons, with bullets, and stacks of fur. Which animals? I don't know - for the right buyer, though, I'm sure snow leopard would appear.
A scientist working to radio collar the leopards:
"You can spend months in the mountains and not see a snow leopard or even any signs of one," says McCarthy. "But I can feel when they're around."
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