Images of four rarely seen snow leopards that have climbed snow -covered cliffs in northern Pakistan have created a frenzy of excitement among ecologists, the CNN reported.
Snow leopards are among the most elusive creatures in the world in nature and it is difficult to catch the same to the camera, not to mention four, the observation being celebrated as a success of the conservation efforts of Pakistan.
Sakhawat Ali, a gaming guard and passionate about photography from the isolated village of Hushe, captured the images on March 13 after which he described as “two weeks of monitoring their legs” through the Central Karakoram National Park – near K2, the second largest world mountain.
Ali told CNN that the four snow leopards were a mother and her three cubs.
“In the village, we are used to seeing snow leopards but no one, not even the elders I spoke to, have never seen four snow leopards in one go,” he said.
The four snow leopards were spotted on a snowy cliff in the Karakoram central national park in northern Pakistan.
The four snow leopards were spotted on a snowy cliff in the Karakoram central national park in northern Pakistan. Sakhawat Ali
He first spotted the mother, then began to note additional legs. Later, he was “lucky” by seeing the animals together while observing a neighboring cliff, through twins, from the roof of his house. He climbed them with his camera to film them, at a distance of 200 meters.
Ali said that the neighbors of his village celebrate observation – even if they have concerns that their cattle could be in danger.
Neiges leopards are currently listed as “vulnerable” on the International Union for the Conservation of the Red List of Nature (IUCN) of endangered species. Known locally as the “ghost of the mountains”, they easily camouflage themselves in their natural habitat of the Karakoram mountain chain in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan.
Environmental anthropologist Shafqat Hussain says that the rocky terrain in northern Pakistan is perhaps the “best habitat of the world’s snow leopard”.
They only live in the high alpine areas of the Himalayas and although their habitat spreads on 12 nations, notably China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Russia and Mongolia, observations are extremely rare.
Dr. Zakir Hussain, chief curator Parks and Wildlife for Gilgit-Baltistan told CNN that observation was a “victory” for the work carried out to increase the awareness of local communities from the importance of protecting snow leopards. He said that eighty percent of community members are now involved in conservation, monitoring and awareness-raising activities.
The World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Pakistan, said that it was optimistic about the observation, but that stressed snow leopards remain an endangered species confronted with “many threats”.
In a statement, he said it is crucial that local communities “work together to protect and keep these incredible big cats, ensuring that future generations can attend their splendor in the wild”.
According to the United Nations environmental program, “human activities and growing cattle herds in certain regions have led to the degradation of pastureland and fauna habitats”, affecting the food supplies of snow leopards.
Other threats according to UNEP include poaching and fragmentation of animal housing due to new massive infrastructure projects in addition to climate change – which “should worsen these existing threats”.
In 2023, Pakistan was classified as the 5th country most vulnerable to climate change according to the global climate risk index of the World Bank.