In February-March of 2010, under the aegis of the WWF of Russia, the workers of the biosphere nature reserves “Sayano-Shushenskiy” and “Ubsunurskaya kotlovina” will be carrying out a census of the key groupings of the snow leopard (irbis), in the south of Krasnoyarskii Krai and in Soutwest of Tuva.
The experts are also planning to count not just the snow leopards, but their chief prey as well ( mostly Siberian mountain goat and other hoofed mammals) in the territory of the Sayano-Shushenskoy nature reserve and the adjacent zones, and also in the Tsagan-Shibet range (Tuva).
“In the process of the field observations, information will be collected about poaching activities regarding this species, and also about cases of irbis attacks on livestock. Recommendations about protection of irbis in these centers of their range will be worked out on the basis of the results of field research,” – explained the co-ordinator of the project WWF, Mikhail Paltsin.
The protection of snow leopard and argal (mountain goat) is one of the basic goals of WWF in the Altai-Sayan Eco-region, and one of the most serious nature-preserving tasks of Russian Federation.
In 2007-2008, the Association of Nature reserves and national parks in the Altai-Sayan Eco-region, with the support of WWF and Project PROON/GEF worked out a “Program of monitoring the snow leopard in Russian federation”, which has been published in 2009. the program aims at organization of and carrying out monitoring of five key groupings of snow leopard in Altai-Sayan region, first of all by the federal OOPT.
The practical aspects of this program will provide regular reports about the condition of the key groupings of the species, and will allow evaluation of the effectiveness of the projects of WWF and other organizations in their protection.