Author: Saniya Bulatkulova of Kazakhstan Introduction: In-depth Central Asia Center on November 21, 2021

Nur Sultan-According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) of Russia, this year in the valley surrounding Almaty City that traverses the Alatau Mountains in Ili, camera traps have recorded 65 snow leopards coming and going.

Kazakhstan celebrated an environmental holiday-International Snow Leopard Day on October 23. Photo source: Wildlife Institute Without Borders.

Overall, by the end of 2020, 35 camera traps have been installed in the suburbs of Almaty and towns in the Almaty region.

As part of the effort to "protect the snow leopard species as a living symbol of Almaty and Kazakhstan" initiated by the non-commercial private organization Kazakh Wildlife Without Borders, the main phase of the monitoring research was successfully completed. Institute of Zoology, Ministry of Education and Science.

According to preliminary monitoring results, about 25 snow leopards were found inhabiting the project area. Almost all the automatic cameras in the canyon captured female snow leopards with cubs, two of which were female snow leopards with three cubs.

In addition, five snow leopards live within the city limits. One snow leopard was captured by a camera 16 kilometers away from the Kazakhstan Independence Monument.

"Monitoring studies have shown that the population of snow leopards around Almaty is still stable. However, due to the significant increase in human activities in mountainous areas, snow leopards rarely appear in areas that were once frequently captured by cameras," said Alek, director of the Snow Leopard Monitoring Center. Xie Grachev pointed out. "Perhaps, a worrying factor is one of the main negative factors affecting the snow leopard's lifestyle."

According to the Russian World Wide Fund for Nature, the possibility of permanent residence of snow leopards in the mountains of Almaty is very high, because despite its proximity to the metropolis, it is a suitable landscape for endangered carnivores. However, the expansion of urban infrastructure development and rapid population growth on the southern (mountainous) route have a negative impact on animals, so they will be forced to move to unfavorable areas.

Unfortunately, the population has shown negative growth year by year, which means that snow leopards are likely to disappear completely from their original habitat.

As Grachev said, the work carried out under this project enables scientists to make recommendations to better protect the snow leopard’s habitat under the current circumstances.

Snow leopards are listed as an endangered species in the country and are included in the Red Book of Kazakhstan. According to statistics from the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources, there are approximately 130 snow leopards in Kazakhstan. 

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