Snow leopards face multiple threats across their vast high-altitude range including prey depletion, human-wildlife conflict and climate change that impact individual welfare and population survival.
Snow leopards involved in human-wildlife conflict face death or injury from trapping, poisoning or shooting by herders protecting their livestock. Individual animals killed in conflict suffer welfare harm that also reduces an already small and fragmented population. The chronic stress of navigating human-dominated landscapes that fragment their natural range creates persistent welfare challenges for individual animals. Prey depletion from overgrazing and hunting pressure means snow leopards may experience extended food scarcity and increased energy expenditure searching for prey across larger territories. Climate change is compressing their high-altitude habitat, increasing competition and exposure to unfamiliar conditions.