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BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION
The Snow Leopard Uncia uncia is an endangered “big cat” 1 , inhabiting the mountains of central
Asia and the Himalayan region. For centuries, Snow Leopards have been valued for their long,
thick fur and admired for their strength, elusiveness and ability to survive in harsh, high-altitude
environments.
Besides inspiring the myths and cultures of mountain communities, the Snow Leopard has also
been exploited by humans. Historically, the demand for pelts and live animals for zoos may
have had most impact on the species. A review of Snow Leopard skin exports from central Asia
and Russia in the first two decades of the twentieth century put the annual world trade in Snow
Leopard skins at 1000 a year (Heptner and Sludskii, 1972). Following concerns about the high
numbers of skins in trade, especially during the 1960s, and lobbying by conservation groups,
the International Fur Trade Federation (IFTF) recommended in 1971 that its members enter a
moratorium on trade in Tiger Panthera tigris, Clouded Leopard Neofelis nebulosa and Snow
Leopard skins and subscribe to a three-year ban on trade in Leopard Panthera pardus and
Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus skins (Nowell and Jackson, 1996). Four years later, CITES, the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, entered into
force and commercial trade in Snow Leopards and their body parts and derivatives has been
prohibited since 1975, as a result of the species’s categorization in CITES Appendix I. World
trade in spotted cat skins has decreased steadily since the mid-1970s: many consumers in the
Western world no longer favours such furs, largely influenced by the ‘anti-fur campaigns’ by
conservation groups in the 1980s.
These initiatives and trends in the latter half of the twentieth century were to the benefit of Snow
Leopard conservation but the killing of Snow Leopards in most parts of their range continued.
In recent years, there have been reports of increased levels of Snow Leopard killings, especially
in the Russian Federation and central Asia 2 (Koshkarev, 1994; Anon., 2002a; Dexel, 2002). In
Kyrgyzstan, killings of Snow Leopards are said to have increased three- to four-fold since the
early 1990s (Koshkarev, 1994), giving rise to concerns about how much longer local Snow
Leopard populations can sustain such pressure. Motives for such killings vary. In some cases,
trade and associated profit are the incentive; in other cases, Snow Leopards are killed because
they are a nuisance to livestock herders but, whatever the reason, it is likely that the animal or
its parts will ultimately enter trade. High prices are often paid for Snow Leopard skins and the
bones, like those of other big cats, are used in traditional Asian medicines. While increased
awareness of the threats facing Tigers has undoubtedly benefited that species, emphasis on the
Tiger alone may have shifted the trade to other big cats of equal conservation concern, such as
the Snow Leopard.
The following report was compiled with the aims of:
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providing a better insight into motives for killing Snow Leopards and subsequent trade in
their body parts and
assessing the scope and scale of this trade and its recent trends.
The distribution, population and regulatory status of Snow Leopards in each range State are
described and the different types of threat affecting the animals throughout their range are set
FADING FOOTPRINTS: the killing and trade of Snow Leopards 1