Radio collars installed on snow leopard in Nepal

In a move that will help the conservation efforts in the Himalayan region, Nepal has successfully installed a GPS-enabled radio collar on a snow leopard in the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area.
This was the first time that the endangered species was collared in the Himalayan nation. Previously the fight for tiger conservation received a boost after several big cats were collared in the Bardia national park three years ago.
The 5 year old adult male snow leopard was released back to the forest on November 25, World Wildlife Fund said here today. The expedition was led by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation in partnership with WWF Nepal and National Trust for Nature Conservation.

"The snow leopard collaring is indeed a huge victory for Nepal," said Megh Bahadur Pandey, Director General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.
"It reiterates the government's commitment to strengthen measures to better understand and protect the snow leopard whose survival is under threat from anthropogenic actions and the pervasive impacts of global climate change."
"Nepal's Himalayas are a rich mosaic of pristine habitat, freshwater and wildlife species including the iconic snow leopard," says Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF.

"The data received from the satellite collar, will provide information about their movement patterns, habitat use and preferences, core habitats and corridors between them, including trans-boundary habitat linkages and impacts of climate change, according to experts,' he said.

There are 300 to 500 snow leopards in the mountains of Nepal, living in areas covering Kanchanjunga Conservation Area in the east to the Apinampa Conservation Area in the western Himalayas.
The world population of the endangered animal is estimated to be between 4,000 and 6,500.
Nepal has declared snow leopard as a protected animals. Anyone convicted in the trade of snow leopard may face 5 to 15 years of imprisonment in the country.