Sailugemsky National Park staff and volunteers will assess the number and condition of snow leopard groups in the region where most of Russia’s snow leopards live.
Financial and resource support for the work is provided by the Interregional Association "Irbis", which coordinates the accounting of Sailyugemsky National Park.

The participants of the expeditions will be employees of the Sailyugemsky National Park, the Department for the Protection, Use and Reproduction of Wildlife of the Altai Republic, and volunteers.

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The Irbis Association has been supporting snow leopard research expeditions in Russia for several years in a row. Accounting for the abundance and condition of a species is one of the most important scientific research tasks of the conservation community. Due to the knowledge of the number of species, suburban habitats, animal concentration sites, and the collection of information from the local population, environmental organizations evaluate the results of their work and adjust protection methods.

Ali Uzdenov, Chairman of the General Meeting of the Association "Irbis".

Today, on February 5, the first stage of field research started — monitoring in the Argut River valley.

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Every year in the Altai Republic, we begin accounting for snow leopards with a survey of the most inaccessible and remote cluster of the Sailugemsky Argut National Park, home to the largest group of snow leopards in Altai. We hope to confirm the presence of at least 23-24 snow leopards in the Argut River Valley, as in last year.

Denis Malikov, accounting coordinator, Director of Sailyugemsky National Park.

Subsequent field work will take place in several stages and will cover all the most important snow leopard habitats in the Kosh-Agachsky district of the Altai Republic: the Chikhachev, Yuzhno-Chuisky, Sailugem, Kuraisky and Talduir mountain ranges.

The research work will take place in difficult climatic conditions and rugged mountainous terrain. Experts will also visually calculate the number of Siberian ibex, the main prey of the snow leopard in Russia. 20 people, snowmobiles, off-road vehicles, horse-drawn vehicles and heavy hiking routes will be involved. Scientists, inspectors and volunteers will check almost the entire available network of camera traps in the area.

On the Chikhachev Ridge, specialists will have to use snowmobiles, and spend the night in a tent camp in winter. There are no specially protected natural areas and no infrastructure for scientists, unlike, for example, the Argut cluster of the Sailugem National Park. Two years ago, with the support of the Irbis Association, mobile cabins appeared in a remote area for inspectors and security staff, which allow them to conduct long-term raids and expeditions, returning to spend the night in comfortable conditions.

The accounting results will be summarized in April, when field expeditions will be completed and experts will analyze the data from camera traps.