World Wildlife Fund-India captures rare Snow Leopard's in Kashmir

(PHOTO: WWF-INDIA)Conservationists have caught a pair of rare & reclusive snow leopards on camera wandering a remote, mountain region once ravaged by conflict between India & Pakistan in 1999; killing hundreds of soldiers on both sides before a cease-fire was established with US mediation.  Infrared camera traps set up months ago by World Wildlife Fund-India filmed the adult snow leopards in Kargil district just a few kilometres from the heavily militarised Line of Control that runs through the disputed territory of Kashmir.

(PHOTO: Kargil town, India, Kashmir region/Wikipedia) WWF-India says it's the 2nd photo sighting of endangered snow leopards in Kargil, after 1 was photographed hunting a herd of Asiatic Ibex in 2009.  Snow leopards are thought to be the most endangered of big cats, facing threats from poaching & habitat loss. It's believed there are between 4,000 & 6,500 left in the wild in the Himalayan regions of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Siberia, Mongolia, Pakistan & India. The recent sighting has encouraged environmentalists as it suggests the big cats were not scared away from the Kargil mountains by the war.  (Read More at The Indian Express)