"Snow Leopard taken by one of 2oth century most legendary mountain hunters, Persian born American hunter Hossein ''Soudy'' Golabchi. A very rare snow leopard permit was issued by the Mongolian government to take out this particular cat who attacked nomads camps and killed their sheep. Soudy is a 2003 recipient of Ovis Award and detainer of world record Marco Polo trophy. Author of 'Obsessed' book on mountain hunting the world. There is a sense of greatness as there is a sense of sadness in this picture and that I understand. Snow leopard is a formidable yet extremely rare animal, a pure hunter himself but never really hunted by anyone."

The above is from the "Hunting" facebook page. Opinions?

Wow, shocking picture!

I have mixed feelings about it, but better he paid to kill it rather than a farmer poisoning it.

According to Renaud, who has hunted Asia for 30 years, snow leopards are not as rare as one is led to believe. He has seen their tracks in many countries in the mountains and has also videoed them in Kyrgyzstan, where they hammer the Ibex. Here is a link to the video http://www.youtube.com/seladang#p/u/2/DgnC1rz5Ddk the shot of an ibex kill and snow leopards are somewhere in the middle of the video clip.

They live in places where not many people (researchers) go and being elusive beasts are not often bumped into.

Arjun Reddy
www.huntersnetworks.com

quote:

Originally posted by Leopardtrack:
I have mixed feelings about it, but better he paid to kill it rather than a farmer poisoning it.

Agreed.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/...angered-snow-leopard


March 24, 2011

Mongolia Calls Off Hunt of Endangered Snow Leopard

--Chad Love

Ever wanted to hunt the endangered snow leopard? Too bad. The Mongolian government has just reversed an earlier decision to allow foreign hunters to kill four endangered snow leopards for "scientific purposes."



From this story on xinhuanet.com:
The Mongolian government had revoked a decision it made earlier this month to allow foreigners to hunt leopards for scientific purpose, local media reported Wednesday. Mongolian Environment and Tourism Minister L. Gansukh canceled the permission to kill four leopards for scientific purpose this year, after meeting researchers and representatives of non-government organizations to discuss the issue. The researchers opposed the decision made by the cabinet on March 2. They said genetic research and other modern technologies made it possible to do scientific research without killing the highly endangered species. The decision to allow four leopards to be hunted incurred opposition worldwide. Snow Leopard Network, a major organization aimed at protecting the species, sent a written appeal to the government, urging it to reverse its decision.

Apparently the government of Mongolia approves hunting quotas on a yearly basis and the snow leopards' inclusion in this year's quota created much controversy, according to this story on the mongolnews.ub website:

Last week, the Government issued a decision permitting foreign nationalities hunting up-to four leopards for research purposes in 2011. In connection with the Cabinet decision, Snow Leopard Network, a worldwide organization involved in snow leopard conservation, takes immediate action and sent a letter to Mongolian government asking them not to allow permits for hunting snow leopards. In its letter, Snow Leopard Network sought Mongolian government’s support for ensuring the conservation of this highly endangered species, stressing that the entire international community has been highly concerned by reports that an official license to hunt four snow leopards has just been granted in Mongolia. “As you are aware, the snow leopard is threatened with extinction, and is categorized as Endangered in the IUCN’s Red List. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) lists it in its SCHEDULE I, thereby prohibiting any international trade in snow leopards or its body parts” the letter reads. SLT noted in the letter numerous non-invasive, state of the art research techniques – for instance molecular genetics, GPS satellite collaring and camera trapping – available today which have completely taken away the need to kill individuals.

At the Cabinet meeting last week, foreign hunters were permitted to hunt 120 wild goats, five red deers, 150 Mongolian antelopes, fourty grey wolves, fourty roe deers, twenty wild pigs and up to 400 birds. It also allowed to hunt two brown bears and up to four leopards this year. A survey conducted in 2009 and 2010 estimate that the country has 17,9 thousand wild sheep, 24.4 thousand mountain goats, over 10 thousand red deer, nearly 12 thousand black-tailed gazelle, 5,6 million Mongolian antelope, over 1,200 leopards and over 6 thousand saker falsons.

Awesome & also a bit tragic. Wonderful animal. About 40 years ago I walked into a Kashmiri Shop in South India and saw a Snow Leopard pelt hanging on one of the hooks - for sale @ Rupees 10,000 - about U$2000 in those days.

The hunter ia obviously very dedicated and resourceful.

quote:

Originally posted by Nakihunter:
About 40 years ago I walked into a Kashmiri Shop in South India and saw a Snow Leopard pelt hanging on one of the hooks - for sale @ Rupees 10,000 - about U$2000 in those days.

About three years ago, I saw an adolescent tiger pelt in a middle eastern bazaar. $1000.

I saw snow leopard tracks in Kyrgyzstan four years ago. Even that was a thrill.

There are so few of them and to be honest what ever figures we tout around here are best guestimates

Leave the buggers to breed ..........

quote:

Originally posted by londonhunter:
There are so few of them and to be honest what ever figures we tout around here are best guestimates

Leave the buggers to breed ..........

+1

I also saw the snow leopard twice when in Kyrgyzstan.

Got the hart rate up as it was in a very rocky out crop with limited vision.

Thet are only rare on Mongolia cause the locals(like most third world countries) shoot the shit out of them! I have a picture at home from there of the inside of a Yurt lined with over fifty snow leopard skins . I guess its like most animals in our ever shrinking world if they were worth money and could be hunted then they would have a much better chance of surviving,when they are worth nothing and a bloody sheep or goat is worth more then the locals will shoot them off the face of the earth!