Snow leopards caught on film in Afghanistan

10/06/2009 06:54:37 Snow leopards inn Afghanistan
June 2009. Wildlife Conservation Society researchers working with local community rangers in Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor recently caught several elusive snow leopards on camera. Using remote cameras that automatically photograph animals when an infrared beam is tripped, the WCS team has taken a total of 22 snow leopard images so far.

100 snow leopards in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is thought to only have about 100 snow leopards left in the country, but the fact that 4 out of 5 camera traps captured snow leopard images suggests that there is hope that the population can recover.

Wakhan CorridorProtected
Wildlife Conservation Society, with funding from USAID*, is working to establish the Wakhan Corridor as a protected area to safeguard the region's wildlife. WCS worked with Afghanistan's National Environment Protection Agency to establish the nation's first national park in Band-e-Amir, and also recently Afghanistan announced it's first-ever list of protected species , developed with WCS assistance, that officially protects snow leopards as well as other threatened wildlife species.