CHITRAL: Despite heavy snowfall in Chitral, the snow leopard is yet to be spotted in Chitral Gol National Park, which is considered to be one of its known habitats due to the rich population of Kashmir Markhor, which it preys on.

The residents said that the wildcat used to descend to the lowest altitude of the national park and the forests of Toshi-Shasha when the higher altitudes received heavy snow.

An official of the wildlife department told Dawn that snow leopard was a cryptic and shy animal that preferred to stay in the higher altitudes and away from the human settlements.

He recalled that whenever the Chitral town received snow of more than two feet, the snow leopard descended to the lower altitudes of the forest and sometimes it came to inhabit in Toshi area along the Garam Chashma River, where it stayed for weeks.

The wildlife official said that the apprehension of the people was quite natural as the higher altitudes of the forest were laden with snow, forcing all the other wild animals to make downward shift except that of the snow leopard.

The official said that in the nighttime after the recent snowfall, the people residing in the villages surrounding the national park and Toshi-Shasha conservancy heard the howling voices of different wild animals, which had descended to the lower areas.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2024