The Snow Leopard Conservancy is a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting snow leopards and their mountain habitats through community-based conservation across Central and South Asia.
Founded in 2000 by Dr Rodney Jackson, a leading authority on Panthera uncia, the conservancy operates in seven countries: Pakistan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan and India. Headquartered in Sonoma, California, the organisation pioneered an approach that places local communities at the centre of snow leopard protection. This model recognises that herders and villagers who share the high-altitude terrain with these elusive cats are essential partners in conservation. By addressing human–wildlife conflict and creating incentives for coexistence, the Snow Leopard Conservancy has helped reduce retaliatory killings and fostered tolerance for a species that remains one of the least understood and most threatened of the big cats.
