A close call for the snow leopard Shonkhor

In February one of the male snow leopard we are studying, Shonkhor, killed 13 livestock belonging to a herding family in southern Mongolia.  Incidents like this have driven other herders in Mongolia to kill snow leopards , but in a heartening act of tolerance this herder decided to contact our staff to seek another option.

While it is not uncommon for snow leopards to take livestock, what made this situation peculiar was Shonkhor’s adamantly possessive behavior towards his kill.  Usually we know snow leopards to be very shy and wary of humans, but Shonkhor refused to budge. In the week that followed, our field team consulted with cat specialists from all over the world including SLT staff, Panthera staff, the team at Grimso Wildlife Damage Centre in Sweden and Raghu Chundawat from India.

Following their suggestions on how to dissuade Shonkhor, the herder and our field team tried everything from honking the horn of the car to yelling and even setting off small firecrackers, but Shonkhor would not leave. Our team even slept in their field vehicle for several nights in sub-zero temperatures.  While initially the two dogs belonging to the herder barked at him, they too gave up after a while as Shonkhor refused to move away.

Finally, after we placed one carcass far away from the herder family and burned all the others, and after Shonkhor had eaten well for almost an entire week, he did leave. We will continue to monitor Shonkhor’s behaviour and to talk to the local families to help them know what to do and how to be better prepared in instances like this. There is no doubt that protecting snow leopards takes hands-on community work!