The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), India, has set up camera traps to track the movement of snow leopards, Asia’s most endangered cats, a few km from the Line of Control (LoC) in the mountains of Kargil district. As per the WWF, there are 400-700 snow leopards in India, a majority of which are in the high-altitude mountainous zones of the state. The infra-red cameras can track the movement of snow leopards even on misty winter nights. This project is a part of the “Save our snow leopards” campaign of the WWF in collaboration with the state Wildlife Department. Under the project, it has been found out that snow leopards thrive in areas around international borders where human activity is the least. The most strife-torn conflict zones in the world, as per wildlife expert and researcher Muhammad Shafi Bacha, including Xinjiang, Tibet, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh, are actually safe habitats for snow leopards. He said there were around 250-300 snow leopards found mainly in the hilly Zanskar range of the Ladakh region. Regional Wildlife Warden, J&K Wildlife Department, Shuja Haider, said a comprehensive study on snow leopards, also called the tiger of mountains, had not been possible due to frequent firing in the LoC area. The WWF’s ambitious project aims at raising funds for installation of more trap cameras across other areas of the study to research on snow leopards. The project has raised about Rs 12 lakh till now. The cases of man-animal conflict, which as per the WWF is a major threat to snow leopards’ survival, could be prevented by building predator-proof livestock pens so that snow leopards do not attack the cattle of villagers. “The major threat to the existence of snow leopards is from humans, who live near their habitats and kill them. There is a need for a full-fledged research as poaching, habitat and prey base loss are bringing down the population of snow leopards,” Muhammad Shafi said. The mission The placement of camera traps in Kargil district is a part of the “Save our snow leopards” campaign of the WWF in collaboration with the state Wildlife Department. As per the WWF, there are 400-700 snow leopards in India, a majority of which are in the high-altitude mountainous zones of the state.