When I began working in Ladakh's wildlife service in the 1990s, few people outside the region knew that snow leopards lived here in any number. Inside the villages, they were known only too well. A snow leopard that found its way into a stone livestock pen at night could kill a dozen sheep and goats before dawn. For a family, that could mean the loss of a year's income. Some cats were killed in return.
Today Ladakh holds an estimated 477 snow leopards, around two-thirds of India's total. In Hemis National Park, surveys have recorded 2.07 snow leopards for every 100 square kilometres, the highest density documented anywhere in the species' range.
How did a cat that was feared become one that is protected, and even celebrated? There was no single answer. There were four.
1. A protected stronghold
Hemis National Park is a vast landscape of mountains, gorges and high pastures. Protecting a landscape on that scale does not happen by drawing a line on a map. It needs a plan that respects both the wildlife and the people who live inside the park.
The Hemis National Park Management Plan, which I wrote in 2007, set out that balance: protecting the snow leopard and its prey, while working with the villages of the park rather than against them.
2. Counting the cats
For many years, no one knew how many snow leopards Ladakh really held. Camera traps, genetic sampling of droppings, and systematic surveys changed that. The national Snow Leopard Population Assessment gave, for the first time, a reliable figure for Ladakh and for India. Numbers matter: they turn a sense that "there are many cats here" into evidence that decision-makers and the world can trust.
3. Making the snow leopard worth more alive
The most important change happened in the villages. Predator-proof corrals, built with wire mesh roofs over the old stone pens, stopped most night-time attacks. Livestock insurance helped families recover losses. And from 2002, the Himalayan Homestay programme gave villages a new income: visitors who came to see the snow leopard stayed in local homes, ate local food, and paid local guides.
Today more than 200 homestays in over 40 villages share in that income, and in the villages that take part, retaliatory killing has almost ended. A snow leopard on the ridge is now a reason for visitors to come, not a threat to be removed.
4. A culture of respect
None of this would have worked without Ladakh itself. The Buddhist tradition of respect for all living beings meant that most families had always been reluctant to kill. Conservation did not have to fight the culture. It could build on it.
What remains to be done
The snow leopard's future here is not yet secure. Free-roaming dogs, growing in number around settlements and camps, hunt wild prey and spread disease. Climate change is altering snow and pasture. And tourism itself, if it becomes crowded or careless, could undo the goodwill that made coexistence possible.
That is why, when I founded Odzer, I began with a Code before I began with a brochure. The snow leopard is here because Ladakh's people chose to let it live. Every visitor has a part in keeping that choice worthwhile.
Figures: Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India 2019–2023 and the Himalayan Homestay programme, as cited in LADAKH: Snow Leopard Capital of the World.
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