# The Snow Leopard: Why the Ghost of the Mountains Is Still Vulnerable

*PAKISTAN & HIGH ASIA · MAY 20 2026*

> The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is a Vulnerable big cat native to the high mountains of twelve Central and South Asian countries, with an estimated 4,000-6,500 individuals globally — a population so thinly spread that even small annual losses to poaching and retaliatory killing can push regional sub-populations toward extinction.

The snow leopard is one of the most elusive big cats on earth, with an estimated 4,000-6,500 individuals across twelve range states — including Pakistan, where WARN is preparing to operate. This briefing explains why the species was downlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2017 and why that is not the success story it sounds like.

## Key takeaways
- Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List; downlisted from Endangered in 2017 on the basis of new survey methods, not population recovery.
- Estimated global population is 4,000-6,500 individuals across twelve range states including Pakistan, China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia and the Central Asian republics.
- Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hold an estimated 200-420 individuals, making Pakistan one of WARN's priority snow leopard countries.
- Three biggest threats: retaliatory killing for livestock predation, poaching for pelts and bones, and prey depletion from competing livestock.
- Community-based conservancies and livestock insurance schemes have shown the most consistent reductions in retaliatory killing.

## Briefing
The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is the most elusive of the world's big cats. It lives between roughly 3,000 and 5,500 metres in the great mountain ranges of Central and South Asia — the Himalayas, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Pamirs, Tien Shan and Altai — and is so rarely seen that local Himalayan languages call it the "ghost of the mountains." For decades, scientists worked with population estimates that were essentially educated guesses. WARN is preparing to operate in Pakistan , which is home to one of the most important snow leopard populations outside China. The country's Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions hold an estimated 200-420 individuals — a meaningful share of the global wild population. How many snow leopards are left? The most credible global estimate, based on systematic camera-trap and genetic surveys, places the wild snow leopard population at 4,000-6,500 individuals . The species was downlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List in 2017 — but this reflected better counting methods, not a recovering population. Many conservation biologists believe the species is still declining in the most poorly-surveyed parts of its range. The three biggest threats Retaliatory killing. The single largest direct cause of snow leopard mortality. When a snow leopard takes goats or sheep from a remote herder's corral, the economic loss is severe — and the response is often a poisoning or a shooting. WHO and WOAH-aligned animal-welfare workers in the region report that the most effective interventions are predator-proof corrals and livestock-insurance schemes. Poaching. Snow leopard pelts and bones are trafficked into the same illegal markets that drive tiger poaching, with bones increasingly used as a tiger-bone substitute in some traditional-medicine supply chains. UNODC has repeatedly flagged the bones-and-skins trade as a transnational organised-crime issue. Prey depletion. Snow leopards rely on wild blue sheep, ibex, markhor and argali. Where livestock displaces these wild ungulates, snow leopards turn to domestic animals, escalating conflict and the retaliatory-killing cycle. What works: community conservancies and corrals The most consistently successful snow leopard projects in Pakistan, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan combine three elements: predator-proof corrals built into community livestock infrastructure, livestock insurance schemes that compensate herders for verified predator losses, and community-led wildlife conservancies that share tourism or research income with villages that protect snow leopards. Where all three operate, retaliatory killing drops sharply. How WARN fits in WARN's planned Pakistan programme is principally a street-dog welfare programme (see our Karachi street dogs appeal ) — but snow leopard country is the same country, and we expect to support partner work on retaliatory-killing prevention in the high north as our Pakistan operations mature. We do not currently fund snow leopard fieldwork ourselves and we will not pretend otherwise. Sources: IUCN Red List, UNEP-WCMC, CITES Appendix I listing, UNODC World Wildlife Crime Report. We need your support to make this happen World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work. We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now. Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost. Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation. You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.

Human-readable page: https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/snow-leopard-endangered