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Rare snow leopard sighting in Nepal’s ‘home of tiger’ puzzles conservationists

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KATHMANDU — Until Tuesday afternoon for residents of Urlabari town in the eastern plains of Nepal, snow leopards (Panthera uncia) were animals they knew little about. The leopards they knew well were their cousins, the common leopards (Panthera pardus) that visit the town regularly and sometimes attack their livestock. But snow leopards are nof the talk of town in Urlabari (which translates to “home of the tiger” in the local Santhal language), where the “ghosts of the mountains” have not been reported in recent years, and a hot topic of discussion among conservationists. It all started on the morning of Jan.23 when residents of Charghare settlement in Urlabari Municipality-1 spotted a “strange looking” animal near the woods. Fearing that it might attack people or livestock, they unsuccessfully tried to shoo away the animal and even pelted a few stones at it. They called the police, who couldn’t capture the big cat. Eventually, veterinarians from the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) based in the nearby Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve darted and captured the animal and identified it as a snow leopard. “The vets darted the animal, which had suffered some injuries. The animal is now receiving treatment at the Central Zoo in Kathmandu,” said Gobinda Prasad Pokharel, NTNC conservation officer. The incident has prompted conservationists and researchers to come up with possible explanations, as tigers (Panthera tigris) have long been considered the apex predators of the country’s plains, common leopards as reigning in the hills and snow leopards ruling the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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