Conjuring the Spirit of the Himalaya Ghost Cat
“Love at first sight,” is how conservationist Helen Freeman described assembly a pair of Earth’s rarest creatures one fateful day in 1972. Nicholas and Alexandra had made the lengthy journey from Russia (then referred to as the Soviet Union), to be raised and studied at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington. Their silvery white fur, marbled by darkish rosettes, seemed like naked bushes in a snow storm. Their piercing eyes met Helen’s, and with unbridled compassion, she embraced the cubs as her personal. The siblings have been an enormous cat species so obscure, native communities had consigned their sort to the title, ‘Ghost of the Mountains.’ But Helen Freeman was decided to save lots of them, and their snow leopard kin, from vanishing from their Himalayan residence.
Freeman was volunteering for the zoo’s veterinary employees when she fell in love. The place was an uncommon calling for a girl skilled in enterprise administration and born right into a household of Greek immigrant café-owners. However, Freeman was drawn to animals and was curious to study extra about their habits—a craving that finally led her again to the University of Washington to earn a second diploma.
The numerous hours spent observing Nicholas and Alexandra developed right into a multinational analysis venture, launching a sequence of profitable captive-breeding applications. In 1979, Freeman was promoted to the zoo’s Curator of Education and tasked with growing public consciousness concerning the threats snow leopards confronted. She taught guests concerning the significance of defending endangered felines and preserving their pure habitat.
Though Freeman stuffed this position till 1986, she wished to do extra for the species. She believed the best option to save snow leopards from extinction can be to encourage the native communities in Asia who lived amongst them. So, with cultural identification and grassroots efforts on the coronary heart of her mission, Freeman based the Snow Leopard Trust in 1981. At the time of Freeman’s passing in September of 2007, the Trust employed a variety of employees all through China, India, Mongolia, Pakistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.
Her Leopard Legacy Lives On
On July 6, 2017, a male leopard was born at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, carrying ahead the legacy of Helen Freeman, for whom the cub’s mom was named in honor. The zoo celebrated with the next announcement: “Helen’s cub will be a wonderful ambassador for its wild cousins, and we’re very excited to welcome him to the world and to our backyard!”
Under Helen’s management, the Snow Leopard Trust fostered integral relationships with the worldwide conservation neighborhood and established conservation and analysis applications throughout the 12 vary international locations (Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan—a spread that covers an space of practically 772,204 sq. miles, with 60 % of the habitat present in China).
Woodland Park Zoo has remained an necessary ally all through the group’s 40+ years of existence. “Helen made a special connection with the snow leopards at the zoo and came to understand how these animals are conservation ambassadors for their cousins in the wild. Her drive to protect the species led her to build an organization that works with real communities to save these animals in their natural habitat. We miss Helen, but are proud to be part of helping her work and dream continue to succeed,” shared former Woodland Park Zoo President and CEO Dr. Deborah Jensen.
Throughout her illustrious profession, Freeman consorted with Maharajas in India, trekked the Himalayas in Nepal, sailed the Yangtze River to Chungking in China and arranged snow leopard symposia throughout the continents. She obtained quite a few awards and acknowledgments for her achievements, together with the Alumni Achievement Award from Washington State University in 1990, Acknowledgment of Appreciation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1997, the distinguished Evergreen Award in 1998–“In Recognition of Worldwide Partnerships in Wildlife Conservation and Understanding,” and in addition a medal of honor from the Woodland Park Zoological Society.
Save the Spirit of the Mountains with Nat Hab & WWF
Freeman’s tireless efforts to guard this snowy spectral are supported by Natural Habitat Adventures and World Wildlife Fund. More than 70 % of snow leopard habitat stays unexplored. Through our progressive Travel Partnership, we’re remodeling how individuals understand snow leopards with conservation via exploration.
Photographed by Nat Hab & WWF Expedition Leader © Surya Ramachandran
Snow leopards not solely play a key position in managing prey species populations as an apex predator, however they’re additionally sentinels of snow—melting snow that’s. They function indicators of the impacts of local weather change and human encroachment on the well being of their high-altitude environments. If snow leopards thrive, so will numerous different species, in addition to the biggest freshwater reservoirs of the planet. This large cat is beneath risk, nonetheless; poaching for his or her fur and bones, habitat fragmentation, prey depletion and retaliatory killings ensuing from human-wildlife battle are driving them to the sting.
In the Eastern Himalayas, WWF reduces human-leopard battle by serving to native communities set up predator-proof pens for his or her livestock, create livelihood enterprises and innovate native insurance policy. WWF additionally works on public education schemes, together with with goat herders in Mongolia, to construct consciousness.
You can study extra concerning the snow leopard plight by watching the video beneath or any of the opposite Daily Dose of Nature webinars we host!
If you’re feeling adventurous, be part of us on our subsequent journey to the Land of the Snow Leopard and seek for these mysterious cats within the heights of Ladakh alongside high trackers and naturalists!