Shamshy: Cubs Caught on Camera

Researchers capture first-ever photos of snow leopard cubs in the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range at the Shamshy Wildlife Sanctuary. The images are a sign of hope for this threatened big cat.

In 2016, the Snow Leopard Trust joined forces with the Kyrgyz government to catechumen the former hunting concession of Shamshy, in the Ala-Too mountains of Kyrgyzstan, into a sanctuary for snow leopards and ibex; co-managed and co-funded past the government and by our generous supporters and partners.

For decades, ibex were hunted legally in Shamshy, and their populations dwindled. The presence of snow leopards, although occasionally reported in the area, was never confirmed.

Since the area was converted into a Wild fauna Sanctuary, however, things are looking up, as the innovative arroyo has yielded very encouraging results. "I year after the Sanctuary was established, we captured the first ever snowfall leopard photos taken in the Kyrgyz Ala-Likewise mountain range, where Shamshy lies. A outset ibex count showed a salubrious population of around 300 animals living here", says Kuban Jumabai uulu, the Snow Leopard Trust's Kyrgyzstan Program Director.

One of the first snow leopard photos captured in Shamshy. Photo: SLF Kyrgyzstan / SAEPF / Snowfall Leopard Trust

This leap, Shamshy had another milestone to gloat: the first documented snow leopard cubs beingness brought upwardly within the Sanctuary – or anywhere in the Kyrgyz Ala-Likewise range! These pictures confirm that there is a breeding snow leopard population in the Kyrgyz Ala-Likewise range, rather than just a few stragglers and transients from other core snow leopard habitats.

A snowfall leopard female parent and her two young cubs (ca. 6 months old) were caught on photographic camera in Shamshy Wildlife Sanctuary in December 2017. Photo by SLF Kyrgyzstan / SAEPF / Snow Leopard Trust

"The cubs and their mother were captured on camera around 18km up the valley from the reserve entrance", Kuban says. "However, we've also found snowfall leopard tracks at much lower altitudes, nearly the ranger's motel, and camera trap photos afterward showed that it was a unlike true cat roaming this expanse. So we take at least two adults and two cubs using Shamshy correct at present."

"Kyrgyzstan has been making a focused effort to protect snow leopards for several years, and these photos are another indication that our approach is working out", says Almazbek Musaev, the Director of the Department for Rational Apply of Natural Resources with the Kyrgyz government. "Every bit a outcome of this work, nosotros now have a breeding snow leopard population just a few hours from our upper-case letter city, Bishkek."

Snow leopard tracks leading to the ranger motel in Shamshy (xanthous structure in the middle), and a shut-up photograph of a paw mark. Photo: Kuban Jumabai uulu, SLF Kyrgyzstan

The ranger'southward cabin, located right at the end of the dirt road leading into Shamshy, had originally been congenital to host the onetime Shah of Iran on a hunting trip. The royal visit never materialized, even so, and the motel soon cruel into disrepair. When we established Shamshy as a Wildlife Sanctuary, we renovated the construction and turned it into a cozy abode for the wildlife rangers working in Shamshy and for visiting researchers and guests.

"In the time to come, we're planning to host local area kids for educational eco-camps and also bring visitors and partners to Shamshy to see and capeesh the snowfall leopard field research laboratory that it is developing into", Kuban says.

Acknowledgments:

The management of Shamshy Wildlife Sanctuary is generously supported by David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation; Partnership Funding past Fondation Segre, managed past Whitley Fund for Nature; Woodland Park Zoo; and Chattanooga Zoo, and by many individual donors and supporters. Thank you very much.