Dangers

Today only a few thousand snow leopards roam the high mountains of Central Asia. The risk of extinction in the wild is very high. The main reasons for this are direct persecution by poaching and illegal trade, conflicts with livestock farmers, declining populations of prey animals, and changes in their habitat caused by humans.

Although the killing of snow leopards and the trade in their body parts has been strictly prohibited in most countries of distribution since the 1970s, the animals are still killed in very cruel ways, often with iron traps or poisoned bait. Even today, their pelts and bones are still in demand on the international black market. Conflicts with livestock farmers, who carry out preventive or retaliatory attacks to protect their stock from snow leopards, can also be fatal for the big cats.