The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) was created on April 29, 1961, when a group of passionate individuals came together wanting to preserve the diminishing populations of many species around the world. Since then, the WWF has become the world's greatest conservation organization and has devoted more than 1 billion U.S dollars since 1985 towards balancing our political and economic needs with the biological diversity found all around the world. The snow leopard is found among the many endangered species that WWF is trying to protect. They are ranked as priority species by the organization meaning they are the most ecologically, economically and culturally relevant species on our planet. The ability of snow leopards to live, develop, and prosper in their natural habitat is a WWF priority and incentive. This organization has many projects underway that work to protect snow leopard habitat, prey and safety. In countries where livestock herding is common, WWF works to educate herders and build awareness about the difficulty snow leopard populations face as a result of their extensive livestock grazing. WWF is trying to reduce the amount of snow leopard deaths resulting from retaliation and revenge of the herders. In order to achieve this, leopard-proof livestock pens have been built and compensation programs have been introduced for farmers who lose their livestock to hungry snow leopards. In general, the goal is to reduce the amount of conflict that arises between the people living in among these regions and the snow leopard. The WWF organization also works alongside TRAFFIC, the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, to minimize the illegal trade of snow leopard furs, bones and other body parts. It supports and encourages anti-poaching activities and organizations, that help eliminate poaching as being one of the major threats to snow leopard populations. World Wildlife Foundation also gives normal people around the world the opportunity to adopt a snow leopard. The foundation asks people to donate a fixed amount of money each month in order to help raise awareness about the threats and assist in funding programs that will work to preserve snow leopard habitat and life. Found below is an example of a WWF commercial from the United Kingdom, encouraging people to adopt a snow leopard.
Panthera is an organization that focuses on saving the world's most endangered cats by applying effective conservation strategies for tigers, snow leopards, lions and jaguars. Panthera's snow leopard program is led by Dr. Tom McCarthy and it focuses on a wide variety approach for advancing conservation of snow leopards across their vast habitat range. The organization devotes time to performing scientific research and developing advanced methods of monitoring snow leopard and prey population. Panthera also drives national conservation policies in the twelve snow leopard countries by creating action plans and directing threats to snow leopard populations. There are three main principles behind Pathera's approach.
To identify and discover the geographic divisions where the organization can organize an approach to save the species. Analyzing maps of snow leopard range began in 2008 when researchers resolved the location of snow leopard territories.
Educate about the fundamental science on species' ecology in order to effectively suggest conservation on large scales while addressing major issues like habitat fragmentation
Join together with other organizations to coordinate efforts and increase effectiveness of their work.
In present day, Pantheras programs and research is active in nine out of the twelve remaining snow leopard countries. Projects and research such as collecting snow leopard feces samples in order to analyze genetic relatedness of populations are underway in order to help preserve snow leopard habitat for as long as possible.
Buddhist Monks and Monasteries
The majority of people living throughout the snow leopard habitat range practice Tibetan Buddhism. This faith focuses on love, compassion, equality and respect for all living things on this planet. Buddhist monasteries are vastly located on high mountains as protecting wildlife and nature is one of the highlights of their religious practice. As a result, Tibetan Buddhists share their worship sites with many snow leopard habitats and consider these high altitude regions as sacred. They often patrol surrounding regions and implement commands against killing wildlife. Dr. Li Juan, a researcher working for Snow Leopard Trust and the Peking University, has a goal to link wildlife conservation efforts with social and religious morals and traditions of Tibetan Buddhists. Professor Lu Zhi and Dr. Li Juan began working with four different monasteries in Sanjiangyuan and encouraged monks to continue protecting wildlife and helped fund the education of people about the conservation importance of snow leopards through different activities like festivals. When researching further about Tibetan Buddhism and its relation to snow leopard conservation, Dr. Li Juan found that half of the Buddhist monasteries in the Sanjiangyuan region were located within snow leopard habitat ranges. Based on these observations, she was able to predict that Tibetan Buddhism is practice through 80% of the world's snow leopard territory and supporting these monasteries would lead to more effective and efficient snow leopard preservation (Snow Leopard Trust, 2013). She explains, "we suggest local governments and nature reserves could confer some management rights to monasteries and communities. It would, for instance, help monasteries and local communities if they had a legal right to evict poachers and illegal miners from their holy sites" (Snow Leopard Trust, 2013).
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
The work of this organization began in the 1970s, with research performed by Dr. George Schaller in Pakistan and Nepal. Today, WCS is a leader when it comes to saving these beautiful felines and in 2000 the organization helped sponsor an International Snow Leopard Conference in Beijing , where research scientists and government officials from eleven out of the twelve snow leopard countries discussed ideas and conservation strategies for the future. The organization works to initiate public education events to halt the selling and purchasing of snow leopard furs and pelts and hosting training and support workshops for government officials and community members determined to prevent and stop poachers.
Snow Leopard Conservancy
Snow Leopard Conservancy is an organization that, " advances community-based stewardship of the snow leopard through education, research, and grassroots conservation action" (Snow Leopard Conservancy) The organization works with local partners and herder communities in order to protect the biodiversity found among the mountains of Central Asia. Technical and financial assistance is provided for community based events linked to environmental stewardship and preservation of snow leopard habitats. The Snow Leopard Conservancy involves communities in non-invasive baseline studies on snow leopard populations, their lifestyle, prey, and habitat by combining science with primitive knowledge. This organization has already sprung into action by developing innovative, community-based livestock predator proofing programs in order to minimize the number of snow leopard deaths due to farmer and herder retaliation. The conservancy has led the way in radio-tracking, trail monitoring, and livestock insurance programs to reduce snow leopard habitat loss and fragmentation.