CHENGDU, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Three snow leopard cubs were spotted inside a small cave in southwest China's Sichuan Province, the provincial forestry department said Sunday.
On Friday, a villager in Aoyi Village, Shiqu County saw a dead bharal when pasturing cattle and found three snow leopard cubs of three to four months old in a cave not far from the bharal's body.
A forest ranger was dispatched to film the leopards in the afternoon and monitor the surrounding areas for the mother leopard.
According to the local authority, emergency measures were prepared if the mother leopard was injured. If not, rangers would be asked to withdraw from the area immediately to avoid any human interference.
The area belongs to a provincial nature reserve, a main habitat for snow leopards. Infrared cameras have captured snow leopards for more than 20 times since 2013.
Local herders in the reserve said at least 30 snow leopards were living in snow mountains and bare rocks.
Snow leopards are a Class A protected animal in China and are classified as "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They live in the Himalayas in central and south Asia at an altitude of 2,500 to 4,500 meters. They have been spotted in China's Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan and Xinjiang.
