The hill State of Himachal Pradesh has an estimated population of up to 73 endangered snow leopards.
This has been found during the first assessment of snow leopard population in the state. The assessment has been completed by the state wildlife wing of Forest Department in collaboration with Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) Bangalore following the protocol aligning with the SPAI (Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India) of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
The exercise has revealed that Himachal’s State animal — snow leopard -density ranged from 0.08 to 0.37 individuals per 100 sq.km. with the trans-Himalayan regions of Spiti, Pin valley and upper Kinnaur recording the highest densities, both of the predator and its prey, mainly ibex and blue sheep.
The study covered the entire potential snow leopard habitat of Himachal Pradesh, an area of 26,112 sq km, utilising a stratified sampling design. Camera trapping surveys were conducted at 10 sites to representatively sample all the strata i.e. high, low and unknown.
The camera trap deployment over the mountainous terrains was led by a team of eight local youth of Kibber village and more than 70 frontline staff of Himachal Pradesh Forest Department were trained in this technique as part of the project.
During the three-year long survey, snow leopards were detected at all the 10 sites (Bhaga, Chandra, Bharmour, Kullu, Miyar, Pin, Baspa, Tabo, Hangrang and Spiti) suggesting that snow leopards are found in the entire snow leopard habitat in Himachal Pradesh either as resident individuals of a population or as dispersing individuals navigating through these connecting habitats.
Another revelation from the study is that a bulk of snow leopard occurrence is outside protected areas, reiterating the fact that local communities are the strongest allies for conservation in snow leopard landscapes.
In Himachal Pradesh, the snow leopard’s habitat ranges from Kibber wildlife sanctuary in Lahaul and Spiti to Pangi in Chamba district. Also known as Grey Ghost of Spiti, the endangered snow leopards are usually found in the rugged terrain at altitudes between 9,800 feet and 17,000 feet.
The past studies in the year 2016, though not scientific, had put the number of snow leopards in Himachal at 67. With the launch of the Snow Leopard Conservation Project in Himachal, the number is stated to have shot up now.
Forest Minister Rakesh Pathania while congratulating the wildlife wing for the survey said that such long-term studies could prove very useful in detecting the effects of conservation at the ground level and Himachal Pradesh could also be an example for other states. Since snow leopard is the state animal, the study assumes great significance for Himachal Pradesh, he said.
The Minister said that Himachal Pradesh has become the first state to complete assessment of snow leopard and its wild prey.
The NCF and wildlife wing collaborated in the effort and it took three years to complete the assessment, which will also serve as a robust baseline for the Wildlife wing for long term monitoring of the snow leopard landscape, he said.
The Forest Minister said that the results provide a robust baseline for wildlife wing to set up a long term monitoring project to track the population of snow leopard and its wild prey species in the state.
In India, snow leopard’s geographical range encompasses a large part of the western Himalayas including the states and UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
