Snow leopards face many conservation challenges across a very large area. This means that it takes many people working together from different backgrounds to find solutions. It can be hard to work together. People speak different languages and come from different backgrounds. However, the common goal of preserving biodiversity and saving the snow leopard motivates us to overcome these differences and work as a team. One of the biggest key players in making snow leopard conservation successful is the local community.
Tibetans make up the bulk of the people living at our field sites in China. Tibetan culture is unique, vibrant, and deeply connected to the environment, especially to mountains and the animals that live in them. This is why the snow leopard holds so much cultural and religious importance to Tibetans. Tibetans generally view snow leopards positively, though sometimes living with snow leopards can be frustrating when snow leopards eat livestock (farm animals).
The Tibetans at our field sites know about their surrounding environment. They depend heavily on a healthy environment. They need nutritional grass for their livestock to eat and clean water to drink.
