Climate change is altering the high-altitude ecosystems snow leopards depend on, forcing range shifts and prey changes that impose welfare costs on individuals adapted to specific mountain conditions.
Snow leopard welfare in a changing climate involves both direct and indirect effects. Direct effects include unusual extreme weather events that alter movement patterns and force leopards into conflict zones. Indirect effects — prey species range shifts, vegetation changes, increased human-wildlife contact as ranges compress upward — impose cumulative welfare burdens on animals already adapted to harsh but stable conditions. Conservation programs that protect prey species, maintain habitat connectivity across elevation gradients, and support coexistence programs where human-leopard contact is increasing address the welfare dimensions of climate impact on this charismatic but vulnerable high-altitude predator.