The Cat Burglar
Who stole Camera 11? The scientists had left 11 cameras in a remote area of Tajikistan, hoping to take photos and video of rare, elusive snow leopards. When they went to retrieve them three months later … only 10 cameras.
What the 10 cameras had captured was all they could have hoped for: photos of five different snow leopards living in one valley, including a family with two cubs.
So, who was the cat burglar? No surprise, one of the cubs had carried it away:
The expedition was organized by two groups: Panthera and Flora and Fauna International.
Check out the video of the leopard family, with the cub caught in the act of stealing the camera, at Panthera. There’s also a video of a rare mountain weasel
Snow leopard numbers have been declining, largely due to habitat loss, poaching and loss of other wildlife as the land is taken over by humans and their farm animals. (Leopards who interfere with livestock get shot.)
‘Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains provide a critical corridor that links snow leopards living to the north and south of this region, and that helps to ensure the genetic diversity of the species,” said Panthera’s Snow Leopard Program Executive Director, Dr. Tom McCarthy. These survey results demonstrate that there is hope still for the endangered snow leopard.’