Why trophy hunters in Tajikistan are unlikely saviours of the snow leopard

Revenue brought in by westerners hunting markhor, ibex and wild sheep is being used to conserve the elusive big cat and provide income for villages in the mountainous region

There are few mammals that capture our imagination more than the rare and elusive snow leopard. Listed as vulnerable on the red list of threatened species, fewer than 7,000 Panthera uncia are thought to remain across the high mountains of Asia. Of these, an estimated 5% live in Tajikistan's Pamir mountains, the third-highest ecosystem in the world after the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges. Here, against the odds, the leopards appear to be thriving.

In Tajikistan, the situation with snow leopards is optimistic because the population is visibly increasing," says Khalil Karimov, a wildlife biologist and scientific adviser to the Association of Nature Conservation Organisations of Tajikistan (Ancot). We have between 350 and 450 cats, although the exact number is impossible to say due to the nature of the leopards and the remote environment they inhabit."