Threatened Snow Leopards Found In Afghanistan
Author:
First published in Sanctuary Asia,
Vol. 31
No. 7,
July 2011
Camera traps documented the secretive, usually solitary animals at 16 locations across the Wakhan Corridor, a long panhandle in northeastern Afghanistan free from the insurgency that plagues most of the country, the World Conservation Society said in a statement seen Friday.
Listed as globally threatened, only some 4,500 to 7,500 snow leopards live across a dozen nations in the high mountain ranges of Central Asia. The cats are poached for their pelts and killed by shepherds guarding their flocks upon which the leopards sometimes prey.
The sleek, fuzzy-tailed leopards are also captured for the pet trade, while an increasing demand for their penises and bones in China, where some believe they enhance sexual performance, has also led to their decimation. Read the full report here.
Source: by Denis D. Gray, Associated Press, Bangkok.
