A quest for the ‘ghost’ cat based on lore-
✓Wildlife officials in Arunachal Pradesh await results of a survey to ascertain the presence of snow leopards in the Namdapha National Park and Tiger Reserve.
✓The snow leopard has never been spotted nor recorded in the Namdapha National Park.
✓The belief that the national park is also the habitat of the snow leopard is based on the claim of a hunter from the Lisu ethnic community that he possessed the skin of the snow leopard.
● Snow leopards:
✓Native to the alpine regions of Central Asia.
✓The 12 snow-leopard range countries are – Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Russia and Uzbekistan.
✓In India, snow leopards inhabit the higher Himalayan and trans-Himalayan region at an altitude between 3,000-5,400 metres.
✓Snow leopard states are Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
● Conservation:
✓Listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN red list of threatened species.
✓Protected under Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
✓Listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species
(CITES).
