Range countries to lead new estimate of global snow leopard population as downgraded threat status remains controversial

No one really knows for sure how many snow leopards there are left in the world, but an initiative spearheaded by snow leopard range countries and scientists announced last week aims to change that. The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is found in 12 countries in Central and South Asia. Its elusive nature and inaccessible, mountainous habitat were once believed to be keeping the snow leopard population relatively stable, but in recent years habitat loss and degradation, declining prey due to illegal hunting, human-wildlife conflict, and poaching for the illegal wildlife trade have all taken their toll, and the species is widely believed to be in decline. The species had been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1986 until late last year, when its threat status was downgraded to Vulnerable — ostensibly welcome news that ultimately proved quite controversial. The IUCN reported that “new available data” had led to the threat status downgrade. But even the IUCN notes in its assessment of the snow leopard population that “There are no robust estimates of Snow Leopard global population size and the various figures available are best regarded as guesses.” Those best guesses place the global snow leopard population anywhere between about 4,000 to 7,500 individuals. The newly announced Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards initiative, called PAWS for short, will be overseen by the Steering Committee of the Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP), which is comprised of the Environment Ministers of all twelve snow leopard…

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