First camera-trap image of Nepal’s Snow Leopard released
The first picture of a snow leopard taken by a camera trap on 24 October, 2011 in Khambachen valley of Kangchenjunga was released by WWF-Nepal on Tuesday.
Ten camera traps (Moultrie D- 40) were installed in the valleys of Nagphinda, Khambachen, Lohanak and Jimbubari in Kangchenjunga Conservation Area in October 2011 under a pioneering initiative to monitor snow leopards in Nepal’s Himalayas. The monitoring is being led by local communities through the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area Management Council and the Snow Leopard Conservation Committee-Ghunsa. It is expected that the camera traps will guide the estimation of snow leopard populations in the future, WWF-Nepal said in a statement this afternoon
“The camera traps are a means to empower local communities to lead conservation efforts of snow leopards,” stated Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF-Nepal. “With habitat loss, poaching and retaliatory killing by herders posing as major threats to snow leopards, community stewardship in conservation is key to the protection of snow leopards,” he added.
The camera traps were installed with the support of WWF-Nepal and Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation through financial assistance received from WWF-UK. nepalnews.com