Did anybody see the programme about snow leopards of Pakistan last night? What a treat! They are amazingly beautiful and graceful creatures. They have paw pads like snow shovels and almost comically long tails.

I got upset watching as one of them was captured in order to be tagged (as so little is know about these creatures and they are so hard to track that is is feared they may become extinct before remaining beasts are counted). It was difficult seeing such a magnificant beast tagged with a huge and ugly collar around her neck. I know there are arguments as to helping protect them by learning about them, but it was very difficult to watch.

What was particularly hard to understand was why a bright cream colour was put around her neck and bright BLUE tags in each ear!!! For an animal who relys upon not being seen by her prey as she inches closer and closer to them I fail to see how this can fail to have a negative impact on her hunting.

That aside - it was a pleasure indeed to have the chance to watch film of these creatures.

What was particularly hard to understand was why a bright cream colour was put around her neck and bright BLUE tags in each ear!!! For an animal who relys upon not being seen by her prey as she inches closer and closer to them I fail to see how this can fail to have a negative impact on her hunting.

It was probably so they (the scientists) can recognise her more easily from a distance.

As for their hunting, they mostly hunt at night and their prey usually rely on sound to detect them. The colours won't affect their lives to a great extent. I know it's not nice to watch but honestly, the more we learn about these species the more we can do to save them. It'd be great if everybody was environmentally aware and respected animals, but they don't, and in the meantime animal behaviourists need to do what they can to help endangered species. Look at it this way - tagging her is better than dragging her out of the wild, caging her up and doing experiments. :)