We left and started the long journey back to Kathmandu, with a stopover in Pokhara to break of the drive. At the lab, I had only a couple of days to do fecal floats on my samples to determine which parasites might be present. We also met to discuss the plan moving forward, which included how and what we would be testing for.
Obviously, this was not enough samples for the study, but with the new collaboration we created with the ACAP wildlife veterinarian, we discovered that people in their organization had been collecting snow leopard scat throughout that region and have kept the samples frozen, which is perfect for molecular work. They agreed to send us 45 samples to test. It also opened up plans for the future. A multifaceted study of pathogens in snow leopards and domestic animals throughout the entire snow leopard range in Nepal. This initial study would serve as just the beginning. A pilot study for a greater evaluation with a goal of learning what pathogens are out there in the first couple years, followed by implementation of some management practices in the domestic animals and working with the owners in education and assistance, and seeing if the disease dynamics change. The goal is to train people in country to continue this work after the larger study is over to improve the livelihoods of those who rely on livestock and to impact the conservation of snow leopards.
Just before I left for home, we found out that 3 of the 6 samples were indeed snow leopards. Though we don’t currently have the technology available at this lab to determine if these are 3 separate individuals or scat from 1 or 2 cats, it is a positive step in the right direction.