Camera trap monitoring programs are revolutionizing snow leopard welfare research, enabling individual identification and tracking of elusive mountain cats across their remote range.
Monitoring individual snow leopards through camera traps provides welfare data without the capture stress of physical marking programs. Identifying which individuals are losing body condition, being injured by traps or snares, or frequently approaching human settlements enables targeted intervention. Long-term individual tracking reveals lifetime welfare trajectories that aggregate population data cannot capture. Conservation programs that combine camera trap monitoring with community coexistence interventions can identify and protect specific at-risk individuals, representing a high-resolution welfare approach that was impossible before camera trap technology.