The snow leopard is no longer considered an endangered species.
Dr Tom McCarthy, who runs the Snow Leopard Programme at wild cat charity Panthera, warns this does not mean the creatures are safe.
"The species still faces 'a high risk of extinction in the wild', and is likely still declining - just not at the rate previously thought."
The big cat is now listed as “vulnerable” and still at risk from poaching and habitat destruction.
The snow leopard, native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia, is notoriously elusive and largely solitary. Seeing them in the wild, let alone capturing them on camera, is a rare feat.
To be considered “endangered” there must be fewer than 2500 of the species in the wild, and that population must be in steep decline.
The reclassification followed a three-year assessment that found an estimated 4000 snow leopards in the wild, though there could be as many as 10,000.
Snow leopards had been listed as endangered since 1972.
Newshub.
