A Very Special Thank You

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Snow Leopard by Marie Hale. CC BY 2.0
Snow Leopard by Marie Hale. CC BY 2.0

In September of 2015, I shared an urgent plea for assistance on The Jaguar and its Allies. Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) conservation communities in Pakistan had been decimated by massive floods, and the Snow Leopard Trust had started a campaign to raise money for these villagers. These people had done a great deal to help endangered snow leopards, and now it was time for animal lovers around the world to return the favor.

The response was incredible. I shared a link to the campaign’s donation page here, on Twitter, and on Facebook. I received several supportive messages on my social media platforms, and many individuals helped spread the word about the campaign. Les Stroud, better known as Survivorman, even agreed to tweet about it on his Twitter page. When all was said and done, over $10,000 were raised to help Pakistan’s snow leopard conservation communities recover from the unprecedented floods.

I have recently received an email from the Snow Leopard Trust showing that those funds are being put to good use. Healthy drinking water has now been restored in at least two villages, which is one of the most crucial elements for both irrigation and human survival. In the village of Drungah, there was enough money to build better water pipelines in a more secure location: making them better prepared for future disasters.

In addition, a tremendous amount of goodwill has been raised for snow leopard conservation. Villagers now have tangible evidence of how beneficial partnerships with international NGOs can be, and of how much people around the world appreciate their help in protecting snow leopards.

Therefore I would like to extend a special thank you to everyone who contributed to this campaign. It has been a moving experience to see how willing you were to help people whom you will most likely never meet, and who come from backgrounds very different from your own. It has also shown me how conservation can bring people together: which is vastly important in today’s polarized world.

So once again, thank you.

Click here to view the full email from the Snow Leopard Trust

Published by Josh Gross

Wildlife, social science, conservation, and scicomm.

30 Thoughts

  1. Pingback: A Very Special Thank You | Blogger's World!

    1. Definitely, there are important conservation programs happening in that region as well. To me this story is also a reminder that in some cases it might be necessary for conservationists to get involved in projects that don’t appear to be directly linked to their main goals; although we need to be very careful about when to do so. In this instance the decision was clear, because of the level of devastation experienced by the Snow Leopard Trust’s partner communities. Not helping out would have been inhumane, to say nothing of the damage it might have done to the SLT’s relationships with local people.

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          1. It has been a bit tough to do much after grandma passed away…..I haven’t been feeling very well.
            Other than that our placements are coming soon, so have been very much caught up with that as well.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. Yes, I remember reading about your Nani passing away :( That sounds like a very difficult event to deal with, so I understand why it’d be hard for you to focus on your blog right now…and those tests can’t help either. Just take your time and do whatever you need to do; some things can’t be rushed. I’ll be here whenever you feel ready to start writing again :)

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          3. Thank you so much Josh. I feel very lucky to have such supportive friends like you :) I was thinking of posting something…..hopefully I’ll be able to come up with something soon.
            In the mean time I’ll keep myself refreshed reading all the wonderful blogs here and chatting with you guys!! :)

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  11. Pingback: #GiveBIG for Snow Leopards Today! – The Jaguar

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