Snow Leopard Conservancy News

Rodney Jackson Named As Finalist for 2010 Indianapolis Prize

Graceful, powerful, supremely adapted to life at high altitudes, this animal’s most dangerous attribute is its stunningly beautiful coat of spotted fur, a coat that has brought the species near to extinction. But the snow leopard has a champion in Rodney Jackson, Ph.D., a visionary conservationist working from the Himalayas to the mountains of Mongolia and Russia, who has been named one of six finalists for the $100,000 Indianapolis Prize. Jackson, director and founder of the Snow Leopard Conservancy, applies today’s technology to the problem of disappearing snow leopards by implementing new cameratrapping and genetic surveying techniques, which ultimately gives these graceful creatures a chance of survival.

“Studying snow leopards is not a passive endeavor. These elusive creatures do not give up their secrets easily,” said Don O. Hunter, Ph.D., team leader, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. “They demand boot time, strained lungs, routine hypoxia, poor rations and the inevitable time away from loved ones. But in spite of these hardships, Rodney is among the handful of field biologists in the world who finds the experience transformative.”

Studying snow leopards is extremely challenging; Jackson has endured long, bitter winters and dangerous terrain at altitudes above 12,000 feet to track and monitor these elusive creatures, and to teach local goat herders how to protect their flocks and coexist peacefully with the big cats. Jackson’s grassroots approach to research, conservation and education is helping to transform this magnificent big cat from a potential livestock predator to an economic asset throughout much of its 12-country range.

The winner of the 2010 Indianapolis Prize receives $100,000, along with the Lilly Medal, to be awarded at the Indianapolis Prize Gala on September 25, 2010, at The Westin Hotel in Indianapolis.

Watch the YouTube video produced by the Indianapolis Prize committee on Dr. Jackson at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa8wOxdPZTw&feature=player_embedded

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