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A wild Snow Leopard in its mountain habitat
Credit: Fritz Pölking, courtesy of the International Snow Leopard Trust
Kyrgyzstan
A catastrophic decline in the number of Snow Leopards in Kyrgyzstan has been caused by a
sharp upsurge in poaching and reduced numbers of wild prey animals. The population may
have been reduced by 80% in the last 10-15 years (from 1200-1400 animals in the early 1990s,
to 150-500 animals in the late 1990s), primarily as a result of poaching (Koshkarev, 1994).
Kyrgyzstan has a history of active hunting of Snow Leopards and at one time more than 90%
of Snow Leopards caught for zoos originated from Kyrgyzstan (Dexel, 2002). Hunting intensity
is reported to have quadrupled at the beginning of the 1990s and to have continued at similarly
high levels throughout the 1990s. Koshkarev (1994) estimated that up to 120 animals a year
were being poached in the mid-1990s, mainly for the skin trade, which compares to an average
of 30 Snow Leopards caught each year prior to Kyrgyzstan’s independence from the Soviet
Union, in 1991 (Koshkarev and Vyrypaev, 2000). Whereas Snow Leopard skins had previously
been traded for the price of a horse or five domestic sheep, in 1992/93 prices increased dramatically
and a skin could be sold for around USD500-2000, which was equivalent to more than 60
times the minimum annual income in Kyrgyzstan. In the winter of 1993-1994, Koshkarev
observed 12 Snow Leopard skins with a single trader in the village of Kyzyl-Su and another 10
skins were noted with another trader in Karakol. Traders claimed most skins were destined for
the Russian Federation, China and Nepal, or for foreign visitors (Koshkarev, 1994).
44 FADING FOOTPRINTS: the killing and trade of Snow Leopards