Islamabad, Pakistan, 9 August 2006 (IUCN) - The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has helped facilitate a new milestone in cooperation, between Pakistani and US governments and conservation organizations, to send an endangered snow leopard cub to New York for a leading species conservation programme.

Found in the high mountain ranges of the Himalayas and Central Asia, the snow leopard is in danger of becoming extinct. There are only an estimated 5,000-7,000 individual animals left in the wild, with no more than 300 in the mountains of Northern Pakistan.

Leo, the snow leopard going to New York, was found last year after his mother and other cubs had been killed. A new born cub at the time, and now 13 months old, Leo cannot be released back into the wild as he does not have the survival skills normally taught to cubs by their mothers during the first 18 months of their life.

IUCN worked with Pakistani authorities and NGOs to ensure that Leo's plight could at least be used to help save future snow leopards and help protect global biodiversity. The Union worked with authorities to move Leo to the Wildlife Conservation Society's internally renowned snow leopard captive breeding programme at the Bronx Zoo in New York.

The US Embassy in Islamabad and the US State Department were instrumental in ensuring the transfer. IUCN President Valli Moosa's visit to Pakistan earlier this year, where he lobbied for the cub's transfer with senior members of the Pakistani government, was also very important.

The agreement includes support for the development of a snow leopard rehabilitation facility in Northern Pakistan. Leo will eventually be returned to this facility for rehabilitation before transfer back into the wild.

Leo was officially handed over to officials from the Wildlife Conservation Society today at a ceremony in Islamabad with the Pakistani Environment Minister and the US Ambassador to Pakistan.

Snow leopard numbers have been declining for many years due to overgrazing by livestock; declining numbers of wild prey; retribution killings by local herders; and poaching and illegal trade in fur, bones and other animal parts.

The snow leopard has been listed on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species since 1972; its current listing is "endangered". The species has also been protected since 1975 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and many countries of central Asia have or are currently implementing snow leopard conservation strategies.

For more information please contact:

• Saquib Hanif, Head of Communications, IUCN Pakistan, tel: +92 21 5861540/41/42/43; mobile: +92 300 8242101; email: saquib.hanifiucnp.org, www.iucn.org/pakistan/
  
  
• Denise Jeanmonod, IUCN Asia Communications Coordinator, tel: +66 1 925 07 26; email: deniseiucnt.org
  www.iucn.org/asia
  
  
• Carolin Wahnbaeck, Global Media Relations Officer, The World Conservation Union (IUCN),
  Tel: +41 22 999 0127, e-mail: carolin.wahnbaeckiucn.org; www.iucn.org

Notes to editors

About the Snow Leopard

The elusive snow leopard or Uncia uncia,which inhabits a mixture of remote areas scattered throughout the vast Central Asian deserts, plateaus and long narrow mountain chains up to 5,500m above sea level, has been listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM globally as an endangered species and on the Pakistan Red List as Critically Endangered.

In addition, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES, to which Pakistan has been a signatory since 1976, has listed the snow leopard as an Appendix I species since 1975, resulting in strict prohibition on international trade in the animal and its body parts.  Furthermore, the killing and use of snow leopard parts is prohibited in all the range states. Current global estimates on the population of the snow leopard range between 3,500 to 10,000 animals, with Pakistan being home to some 300 animals.

Unfortunately, even though the plight of this animal has been known for the better part of 30 years, the global population of the snow leopard appears to be declining. This is due to weak implementation and enforcement of legislation within the range states and the species often face serious threats due to economically-driven human activities such as livestock grazing, habitat fragmentation, reduction in the population of suitable prey, illegal trade of animal parts for medicinal purposes and poaching for pelts.

About the Snow Leopard’s Habitat

Leo’s case clearly illustrates the success of IUCN’s Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP) in conserving and increasing the wild population of snow leopards and various other species in the Northern Areas and the North West Frontier Province.

A seven-year project, the MACP is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Program and the Government of Pakistan. The Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development is the executing agency. IUCNP is implementing the project in close collaboration with the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries in the North West Frontier Project and the Department of Forests, Parks and Wildlife in the Northern Areas. World Wide Fund for Nature, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme and the Himalayan Wildlife Foundation are the key civil society organizations collaborating in the implementation of the project.

Since its inception in 1999, the project has focused on creating awareness among the local communities of the value of natural resources. In this context, special emphasis has been placed on sensitizing the communities to the vital role which predators play in the environment. The snow leopard is a particularly important in this respect as it is an indicator species for the health of the environment.

Over the course of the project, there has been a significant change in the perceptions and attitudes amongst local communities concerning the value of predators in general and the snow leopard in particular. Indeed, the snow leopard has morphed from enemy to friend.

Besides Leo’s case, there is another example which illustrates this shift. A snow leopard was trapped in a livestock shed in the village of Hushe in the Northern Areas where it managed to kill more than 30 sheep and goats. Despite the huge loss incurred by the community, the village elders invited MACP staff, Forestry and Wildlife Department officials and the district administration to witness the release of the animal the following day.

In recognition of this effort, the Snow Leopard Conservancy, an international NGO, honoured the community with a Commendation of Conservation Action certificate and the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund’s 2004 Conservation Hero Award for Asia.

While it is extremely difficult to document the exact status of and rise in the snow leopard population in Northern Pakistan, both MACP staff and locals believe that the numbers have increased within the project areas. Regular sightings by community guides, filmed documentation of snow leopards by WWF and BBC, photographs from remote sensitive cameras, as well as regular observations of snow leopard dung are factors that serve to reinforce this view.

About the World Conservation Union (IUCN)

Created in 1948, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) brings together 81 States, 120 government agencies, 800 plus NGOs, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. The Union’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.

IUCN Pakistan has programmes from the north to the south of the country and multiple field projects. It is one of the nine Country Offices of IUCN's Asia Programme, covering 23 countries with a workforce of nearly 500. More information at www.iucn.org/pakistan/.