Snow Leopard of Afghanistan (Full Episode) | DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL | Nat Geo Animals

Narrator: In the world's most dangerous place, one man risks his life on a quest. Boone: Afghanistan's like the news shows. There's guys with guns cruising around, soldiers. Is this where they found the 700 pounds of TNT? David: Yeah. Boone: Comforting to know we're in that spot right now. Narrator: He'll put everything on the line for the world's most elusive big cat. Boone: Big risk, to potentially get killed to catch a cat. We're all down here just sweating. Worst case scenarios keep going through your head. It's gotta go right, it's gotta go right. David: Boone, this is Dave. We've got a problem. Boone: Can you see eyes? Hussain: Yeah I see eyes. Hussain: Yeah, yeah. Boone: We have eyes John, we have eyes. John: Put your light on it. Boone: Just unreal! Flight Attendant: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Afghanistan. Boone: I've got friends in the military who've told me not to come here. Narrator: Touchdown Kabul. Big cat expert Boone Smith embarks on his most dangerous mission yet. It wasn't the plan, but he lands in Afghanistan just as the Taliban steps up its spring offensive: Suicide attacks, car bombs. Even for a man used to danger, this is a whole new level. Boone: It's a little different from the mountains I just came out of for sure. Narrator: Boone is a fourth generation, big cat trapper from Idaho. Boone: Guys, he is a live wire! Narrator: At home in the states, he chases cougars up trees for research and conservation. Boone: You're with me? I'm starting her. Narrator: But where he's going, he won't have the comforts of home and the odds aren't in his favor. The Wildlife Conservation Society and USAID have challenged Boone with a mission impossible: come to Afghanistan to capture and collar And do it in just twenty days. Boone: The snow leopard is my personal holy grail. I've wanted to see one my whole life and it's the only cat I'd follow into a war zone. We know so little about them. What are their territories? How do they interact with each other? Narrator: First stop, WCS headquarters to meet with Dave Lawson for a mission brief. Dave's an insider. He's been in Afghanistan for 3 years as country director for WCS. David: We're going to fly from Kabul on Thursday and he lands at this village here, called Kret. Narrator: Kret's a tiny village in the Wakhan Corridor, the sliver of panhandle in the northeast. Desolate, harsh mountains in the Hindu Kush. David: From the camera traps there seems to be a very good density of snow leopards, okay? Boone: Okay, which is great. David: Which is good. Narrator: The camera traps are motion and heat activated cameras that rangers have rigged along the snow leopard trails. They're the team's best bet for tracking these cats. Boone: Wow. David: Beautiful cats. Boone: We could work that area there. David: That's what I like to hear, confidence. Great. Boone: See, like that spot. That would be a tough spot; nothing but rock everywhere. David: Maybe I should get a written guarantee from you that you're going to catch one; otherwise I'm not taking you. Boone: We'll catch one. Narrator: Next stop, the supply room. Boone: How are you guys? Looks like a bomb maker's factory down here. Narrator: Boone and the team need dozens of these transmitters and receivers in the field. They're vital to this operation, but there's a problem. Boone: I can't believe we can't even get a little half beep. The receivers aren't working. David: We all thought, "Uh oh, we've brought everybody over here for nothing because without trap transmitters, we can't do this work." Narrator: This could jeopardize their entire mission. The team must find a new receiver, quickly. Boone: So today is the first day we've arrived here in Afghanistan. It's the end of three days' travel. We met up with the WCS folks. We're at the guest house here in Kabul, prepping things out, getting ready to go. News Reporter: Afghan security forces are pounding in construction sites with grenades. News Reporter 2: The sound of gun fire ricocheted across Kabul. Boone: I'm taking a big risk to be here. You know, when I think about family, I'm away from the wife and the kids. News Reporter: Several embassies here came under attack. Boone: Miss you guy's lots. You guys be good and I'll see you in a couple weeks, ok? Bye, love you guys. I can't let them see how freaked out I really am. Morning in Kabul, time for Boone to hit the streets and find the receiver he needs. David: Is there anywhere in town that sells radio receivers? Is there a radio shop? Narrator: Leaving the gated compound is a huge risk. Ten years of war have fostered distrust. Kidnapping is an all too common reality, but with a busted receiver, there's no choice. David: Come on guys, don't dawdle. Boone: We've been warned to stay off the streets and out of public view. I feel eyes on my everywhere. Can I justify taking this chance to catch a cat? Narrator: Things could get ugly in an instant. David: Let's keep away from the guys with guns eh? Boone: This one right here? David: This one. Narrator: No receivers anywhere, but what they do find is shocking. Boone: There's an African leopard, wolves, a bunch of other things, fox. And David just asked them, "Do you got a snow leopard?" And he reaches down under and, wham, pulls out a snow leopard hide. The hide itself was gorgeous, but it was actually really disturbing that it was just that easy to get one. Snow leopard hide. I mean it can give you an idea of what it feels like and I mean it's beautiful but obviously it's not the place you want to see it. I'm sick to my stomach. The irony is in Kabul it's easier to find the hide of a rare, endangered cat than it is to find a radio receiver. Narrator: They leave empty handed, but then Dave gets a tip from a colleague. David: Ah ok. Narrator: The team follows the lead to an unmarked shop. To get in, it helps to know the right people. Security is tight, no cameras allowed in here. But, they walk out with the receiver they need. Boone: Long story short, after a little bit of a stressful morning and some finagling we have got a homemade receiver built. We actually, we're just settling down. We are still planning on our flight, as far as we know, it's good to go. That may change between now and morning. Just kind of the stars are aligning for good things. And we're gonna get up there. It's a time crunch that I'd really rather not work. Ah that's a short amount of time, short amount of time. So, you know we'll get up there and give it our best go. It's been interesting days in Kabul to see how everything goes. It's kind of one of these you almost got to see it to believe it. Narrator: After three days in Kabul, Boone and the team are finally on their way. David: Ah, this one will be for you. Thank you. Boone: Should I be concerned that the oxygen's already dropped? Pilot: Pactec one four, ready to taxi. Narrator: This is the Hindu Kush; over 59,000 square miles of rugged peaks and valleys. Boone: I've heard Alexander the Great called it, "The mountains over which no eagle can fly." And Marco Polo described it as "The highest place in the world." Pilot: So this will be the valley up here. snow leopard country. Pilot: I'll fly over to the other side. Narrator: This is where they'll be trapping for the next two weeks. Boone: It's estimated there are no more than 200 snow leopards in all of Afghanistan. It's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Two hours later, touchdown in Kret, gateway to the Wakhan Corridor. Part of the Silk Road once ran through here, but that was centuries ago. Today it's a border region where security is a major concern. It's never been occupied by the Taliban, but if the team runs into trouble, getting out quickly may not be an option. Boone: There goes my exit strategy. turning back now. This is the middle of nowhere: northeastern Afghanistan; one step closer to Boone's dream of tracking the elusive snow leopard. David: Put the hard ones in first. Okay, everybody loaded? Narrator: It's 25 miles on mountain roads to the WCS guest house in Gal'ah-ye Panjah. And the road is hairy; its early spring and the glacier melts that come with the rising temperatures bring falling rock and avalanches. Boone: Everybody must know our driver because when they see him coming, they really get off the side of the road. Driver: Peace be upon you. Narrator: Nearly three hours later, Boone and team arrive at the WCS guesthouse in Gal'ah-ye Panjah village. They call it a village but the nearest neighbor is nearly a mile away. David: How are ya man? Good to see you. How are ya man? Boone: I'm going to have to get used to all this kissing. David: They're all here. Narrator: For this impossible mission, WCS has assembled an elite team. Stephane Ostrowskiis a seasoned wildlife vet. He's in charge of sedation and the safety of the cat. Stephane is training two young afghan wildlife vets: Hafizullah Noori and Ali Madad. Stephane: They seem not 100 percent ready, but they are coming close. Narrator: These guys are the future of conservation Stephane: Good. Narrator: Anthony Simms is the WCS project manager. He's the man in charge of logistics and the ranger program in the corridor. Hussain Ali is a legend in his field; he probably has more first-hand knowledge than anybody alive. If anyone can find the cats out here, it's him. Hussain: I have been working on wildlife conservation for the last 27 years. These creatures are very dear to me. John: You're Boone? Boone: I am. John: I'm john. Boone: John, it's nice to meet you. Heard a lot about you. Boone: Nice to meet you too. I've heard a lot about you. Narrator: John Goodrich, Boone's fellow trapper. He's caught more Siberian tigers and Amur leopards than perhaps anybody on the planet. John: Coming to Afghanistan, of course, is a little bit worrisome. In my job I deal with dangerous animals all the time and that I can handle. I know what to do. But the thought of having to deal with somebody with a gun that wants to kill me bit different. But there's still no question that I had to come here and experience this. Narrator: Even though they just arrived, John and Boone both feel the ticking clock. They know how hard this thing is gonna be to pull off. John: There is not a lot of time. Boone: The time is getting. John: Yeah the time is getting shorter. Boone: Getting shorter for sure. has just 17 days to accomplish what's taken others months; in far less dangerous parts of the world. After breaking for lunch, Hussain takes the team out to the valley to scout potential trap sites. From the WCS guest house in Gal'ah-ye Panjah to the foot of the Sarkand Valley is about two miles. Anthony: Hello. Afghan Village Chief: As-salamu alaykum. Narrator: Out here, the local tribes run everything and it helps to pay your respects. Anthony: We're going to take a hike up. We'll only be a few hours. Narrator: Hussain has several possible trap sites he wants to show them. It's about a two-mile hike. The Sarkand Valley is sandwiched between the peaks of Pakistan to the south and Tajikistan to the north. Boone and team will be hiking up to an altitude of about 11,000 feet. Snow leopards are uniquely adapted to this harsh climate, but global warming is changing all that. Glaciers are melting, allowing shepherds to graze their flocks at higher altitudes. This squeezes the wild ibex, and the snow leopards that hunt them, into smaller and smaller areas at the tops of the mountains. Boone: Right now we're looking for tracks, scrapes, scent marked rocks, things that just give us an indication that snow leopard haven't just passed through, but that they continually, habitually come to this area and use it over and over and over. To trap a snow leopard, we have to think like a snow leopard. They're elusive, solitary, and like many big cats, they tend to travel alone. Narrator: It's a challenge. A snow leopard's territory can encompass hundreds of square miles. Hussain: Maybe sometimes come down the valley. Boone: This is the ridge where he thinks they come down, correct? Anthony: Yeah, and we've got the camera trap up on top. Narrator: So far, the camera traps have been the only means of spotting the cats. But even this basic surveillance has revealed that the cats patrol their territories in consistent, three-week loops. That's essential Intel, but trapping is still a game of odds. They'll have to predict the exact spot that a cat will put his foot. Hussain: There is a fresh scrape there. This one is a scratch. Maybe this one is a scratch. Boone: We look for a lot of scrapes, where they use their back two feet and they basically scrape up a little pile, they scent mark it with urine. It's an identifier for who they are, who's in the area, what's going on to others. John: Hussain is incredible. He took us out there and showed us all kinds of snow leopard tracks and signs and scent marking locations. Hussain: This is new maybe this winter. John: Older snow leopard scat here. And then there is several scats old scats in this area. Boone: And whether he crosses and goes there. This is, we wanna we can set in here that would be fantastic. John: I don't like a steep slope like this but we are gonna have a hard time avoiding that. If the animal jumps you know they get a lot of momentum. Boone: If a snared cat falls down a cliff, it can die. moves up the valley to see what else Hussain has scouted for them. Boone: Oh look at that. John: Nice, they look just like leopards. Boone: So it's coming when it's soft so maybe a week old? Tracks, scrapes, getting better all the time. John: We'll get him, if we have enough time, we'll get him. Boone: Excellent, more scent marking. John: Do you smell it? Boone: Yeah I can smell it. Probably more importantly, snow leopard hair. Hussain: Yes, snow leopard. Boone: We went from scrapes to tracks and now I got snow leopard hair, getting closer man. Closer and closer. Narrator: Hussain knows every inch of the valley. Boone: A couple days at most. Hussain: Yeah, a couple days. Boone: That's bad. We don't want it to be a couple days that means it's going to be a while till he comes back around. It's counter-intuitive, but fresh scat is bad 'cause it means the snow leopard running his loops won't return anytime soon. But old scat like we saw at the first site means the leopard's due back any day now. Narrator: Will Boone and the team get the snares set up in time to catch the leopard when it arrives? Narrator: The team is encouraged by the signs they found while out scouting, but with such vast terrain, and time dwindling, what they need now is a bit of luck. Boone: Yesterday we scouted the west side of the valley. Saw some really great sign, but man, this place is enormous. How are we ever gonna cover it? Let's go. Narrator: They're going guerilla, with just the essentials. The goal is to set three snares by sundown. They'll need to travel light and move fast. Boone carries nearly 50 pounds equipment, including the transmitters, in his pack. Boone: Alright, let's get out of here. only has enough gear to set 12 snares over the next few days. In a valley stretching over 25 square miles, they'll have to choose their sites carefully. Boone: We're going trapping. Narrator: The first trap site is just over two miles from Sarkand Village, up and into the glacier valley. Ninety minutes later, they reach the first snare site. Step one is setting an anchor. It's the hardest part and the most important. Boone: Ah there is the first rock. Hopefully we're gonna have a fury of teeth and muscle trying to pull it out, so it's got to be solid. It's a rough country. I mean, we anticipated that coming in. That was going to be our biggest dilemma. Not where we could snare. It's where we could anchor. Try another spot. I think we tried about 25 different spots and we couldn't get an anchor set. So we really pounded a lot of stakes. We might could. One of our Afghan team members is a little skeptical about our technique. He thinks our trampling of the trail will scare the snow leopard away. Shafiqullah: If you just disrupt that scratch and scat he will never come back here. Boone: We'll just make a new one. Shafiqullah: This is, I don't know, because they are specialists. That's why. Boone: One of the things we do is we do a scrape sets. I'll have you explain it to them, so we'll pick a spot. And we will make these ourselves because the cats see them, and it's a visual thing for them so they go mark on it. So even though I am standing in it, we'll make it pretty and put it back and make it like it was. Narrator: Boone's methods are proven. Boone: On snare, one catch. Narrator: In challenging terrain and harsh conditions. He's devoted his life to understanding these cats. Boone: Pretty big jaguar track. It's the size of my hand! Narrator: The safety of these animals is his top priority. Boone: Holy! But right now, he's just gotta get that anchor in. Dang it, just too short. It's gonna be a workout. We're a, we're coming up this short on our anchors and it's rattling. We're gonna have to be a little creative here I think. John: You want a bigger hammer? Boone: You have We are officially anchored. Pull up. I mean he's gonna wiggle but they are down in that far. Narrator: Boone's confident the anchor will hold, as long as the cat doesn't pull straight up. They still have the delicate task of setting the snare; something that requires patience and a light touch. John: hold onto it. Boone: Sharp end already. As we build this back up, we are going to leave it to look as close to a scrape as we can. So this is our trap transmitter. Narrator: The transmitter is essential to letting the team know when they've snared a cat. Boone: I don't think he can reach that up here. Yeah we can. That might be the way to do it. Now when we're setting the snare, the magnet actually fell out a couple of times and I really jammed it in there at the end. You know what we're going to do here as we finish, is we're going to remake our scrape right here. The idea is you come back, wanna scrape and boom and step in. We're basically trying to take advantage of his habits. Ok, you're tied. John: Go from there. Ohh! Boone: Dang it! Narrator: Misfire. Boone: You alright? John: Yeah, you? Boone: Yeah. John: Son of a bitch. Narrator: It's a serious setback. Boone: What else do you do? Laugh and start over. Narrator: There's now no way they'll get three snares set before nightfall. Boone: I didn't realize it was that deep. And so it begins. John: Hussain'll come down last so he can erase all the footprints. Boone: You give us a sweep? Narrator: All that remains is to cover their tracks and make it look to a snow leopard like they were never there. Boone: Got one in the ground though man, that's exciting. Exciting. Officially, trapping snow leopards; I waited my whole life to do that. Narrator: With daylight fading, reality sets in: one small snare in an enormous valley. That's an area the size of a Frisbee in a place larger than the island of Manhattan. These odds aren't good. Boone: All right so we are on Saturday the 27th, um as you can tell by the background of this shot, we are on the mountain. And we're here and we're looking for one of the most elusive cats on the planet. We might not catch one, our window is really short. We might only have eight days to trap. That's really a needle in a haystack; it's probably not going to happen. But, we're here. What more can you ask for? This place is just incredible, so hopefully it just keeps getting better and better. We made a decision in the beginning that John would take the first shift. He'd run it until two o'clock. What that means is he's going to check the signals every hour. John: Twelve o'clock, my alarm goes off and almost went back to sleep and I went, "No, no, I gotta listen." So I listen and there is a fast signal. "Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep." Boone, you hear that? Boone: Yeah, you gotta be kidding me. It's that magnet. It fell out again, dang it. John: Hmm-mm well we gotta go check it. It's my shift, leaned over turned it on and it's going beep, beep, beep. Nice and fast. So, we gotta go have a look. A moment in history. If we managed to set one snare and catch Boone: No need to wake the vets for a false alarm. John: We're thinking you know maybe it's a fox. Who knows what it is. It can't be a leopard. You can't, you don't catch a snow leopard by setting one snare for six hours. Narrator: They're 100 yards away when Hussain spots something. Boone: Shh, shh, shh. Hussain, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, can you see eyes? yeah, I see eyes. Boone: You see eyes? Can you see eyes? yeah I see eyes. Can you? All right let's go slow. yes, I see eyes. Boone: You see them? Hussain: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Boone: Ok so we wanna go very, very slow. Hussain: Ok, ok. Boone: We're not in a hurry, we want to be safe. We want to make sure it's ok? It's exciting. yeah exciting! Boone: But we gotta be cool, we gotta be cool. So just. That guy is going through the roof; I mean just ecstatic like a little kid on Christmas, you know, you can't keep him out of all the presents. Gotta go slow right here, okay? So we're gonna take our time, work up here, and make sure of what we have, ok? John: They had gotten, oh I don't know, a couple hundred yards ahead of me. So I was trying to move fast to catch up but at this altitude I don't move too fast. But then one of the lights starts coming towards me and I thought "Hmm, that's interesting something's up." Boone: We have eyes, John, we have eyes. We might want to put the vets on alert. The eye shine is on the front of the face. Like we don't have this, we have this. So it's a fox, or a cat, or a wolf. By the eye shine I'd say it's a predator, because they're on front. John: What color? Boone: Um, they're reflecting back blue-white. Guys, guys! Let's just, let's just go slow here, ok? We're ok here going slow. We want to be really quiet. Yeah we see him, let's work up here and make sure, just really slow. Hussain! Psst, psst, hey let's, Hussain, put your light on it. Down, down. Here you go, left, left. It's a snow leopard. John: A snow leopard? Boone: A snow leopard. John: Let me call it in. Boone: It's up on the right. Hussain: Yes, let's go. Boone: Shhh! Ha-ha, hey we're not there yet. We're not there yet, we're not there yet. We've got to get it darted first. All right, so we hits, John; it's up on the rock. It's up on the rock. We have a freaking snow leopard in the trap. John: So I called Anthony, said, "Yeah we got one, we got a snow leopard." We got one man. Anthony: You're kidding? I'll go and wake up the boys. Stephane: And I'm like, "What, there is a leopard?" And I'm jumping immediately out of the bed I'm turning to Hafiz and Ali, "Okay, go, go, go; we have to go." Boone: Missed it, oh there we go. See the tail? Ok, it's fighting, pulling up. It's upward pressure, which is the fear of our stakes. If we go closer, he'll fight harder. We want to go back, back off. John: The animal seemed a little bit excited. So we didn't want to give it any more stress, so we backed off a couple of hundred yards from it. Boone: An anchor that I don't love, it's pulling up which I didn't anticipate. Narrator: The longer the cat struggles in the snare, the more damage he can do to himself. The vets need to get there now. John: Until we've got the cat down in our hands, and we see that everything is ok I'm just worried. Cause, I've been doing this for 18 years and pretty much everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong. Boone: They're here John. Hey these guys came fast. John: And here come the headlamps from Stephane and Anthony and the rest of the group coming up the hill, just two minutes out. Stephane: You check your heart rate, both of you guys. John: Do you want your dart pressurized? Stephane: That's all right. We are completely exhausted and I want to know who will be actually darting. Because I've decided that I will let this responsibility to one of my students. Ok, guys, give me your finger. I'm checking actually the heart rate. Because I want to know who's the one with the lowest actually heart rate, the less stress to do this kind of work. So it's very close, but I say, "Ok, well done, Ali, 98. Let's go, you dart." now or never. The leopard's pulling on the unstable anchor and Boone is worried it's not gonna hold. Boone: You see it, John? It's right there. There it is, there's eyes. Hey Hussain, hey, psssst. I just think here we've got a little bush to block us. It's stressed, everyone's close. Stephane: Give me another stabilizer. This one is wet already cause of my sweat. Boone: That's a very big cat. Narrator: With the dart pressurized and chambered, Stephane guides Ali into range. Stephane: Okay, range finder, how many meters? Ali: 15 meter. Stephane: 15? Okay you go left side, ten meters. Now he is in complete silence. He's pale. He knows a huge responsibility is on his shoulder. Check your security. Slowly, no. Sit on your rock, slowly. Narrator: This will be a first for Afghanistan. Stephane: Missed, come here. We go back. Missed. Boone: Dang it. Narrator: They've got to get this cat down before he hurts himself or escapes. Stephane: Okay, prepare two other darts. Give me the rifle. Boone: Did he get it? Stephane: No, he missed it. No problem, no problem. We go back and I decided it will be the turn of Hafiz. time's running out; this leopard is pulling up on the stakes and risking injury. Stephane: Same approach, five meters. John: I'm freaked out, I'm really stressed. Stephane: The animal can smell and see us, so he really starts to be nervous; jumps a little around. The leg is still taken in the snare. Boone: Right now, go. Stephane: Quick! Oh, missed. Narrator: Not willing to risk another misfire, Stephane takes the gun. Boone: Beautiful. reacts, jumps away, and we immediately move away. But the dart was perfect. John: And so you want to back off during that time. The less stress that the animal is subject to during that time, the more quickly and more smoothly they'll go under anesthesia. Stephane: My advice would be that when he's down, is to move him away from this rock. Find him some place not too close to any river; which is difficult here. Pretty flat, because he will be recover and be a little dizzy. Okay, it's been six minutes. Boone and I will go back and have a look. John: One of the things I worry about a lot is sometimes it happens maybe you hit a vein with a dart or hit very close to a vein and the animal goes down very quickly. And they can go down in such a way that they cut off their airway. Maybe his head is over a rock or something like that. Stephane: Can you see him breathing? Boone: Yes I can. Stephane: He is ok, the thorax is flat, so it's good. The only thing you see is abdomen you see is higher. Boone: None of us have ever captured or sedated a wild We've no idea how it's gonna react. Stephane: We come very near and I touch the animal. There isn't motion, he doesn't move. Okay perfect, bring him down. Not the light in the face please. We don't really know the mechanism of this drug, so I'm always a little afraid that the flashlight, for example, can provoke a spontaneous arousal. Even if he's not conscious, he suddenly wakes up, and jumps, moves and it happened to me with bears and it's just like frightening. Male, young male. He's a beautiful animal, no lesion. Okay, John and Boone maybe. Boone: Let's get the snare off. Stephane: Hmm, I want to have this horizontal. Just a very small wound under the snared leg, but very minor a scratch. Show me. Oh that's fine. You did excellent job guys. Boone: Beautiful, beautiful job. All right John, we're going to go right back your way. Stephane: Keep the thorax; keep the thorax, not the neck. Yes, perfect. You help John with his slipping now. Hold him, hold him. Help John, help John. John: It's amazing to be touching a snow leopard. Holy cow. You know, one of the most elusive animals in the world and here he is in our hands and in our care. And on the one hand it's an incredible privilege and an honor; on the other hand, it's also a huge responsibility. Boone: Here, we'll move him from the water. Stephane: Keep him flat, neck straight. Narrator: If the snow leopard has an adverse reaction to the meds, or his airway becomes obstructed, he could die in their care. Boone: Teeth are in good shape. Immediately oxygen; quickly guy, quickly. Hafiz you count me the breathing. How many per minute, okay? has one hour max before the cat starts to wake. To complete a full medical exam and attach the satellite collar. It'll send data for 13 months, then detach automatically. Stephane: Okay, he's a little tense in the mouth. The first thing you have to check in this situation is really to have an open air way. I'm monitoring actually the respirator rate. 34? He's very fast, he's too fast. And as soon as I feel that there is some kind of difficulty I'm trying always to reposition. The head or the neck or the thorax. Boone: Okay, look at that. They always talk about the tails of these things. I mean they're just unreal. The opportunity to study one of these creatures, it's precious. Every measurement, every observation, it's just so extraordinary. Seven on width. Wow, that's an impressive paw. They're huge. Narrator: These rare DNA samples will be added to the snow leopard database at the Museum of Natural History in New York. The first ever DNA sequence from snow leopards Stephane: Okay, he's a little more tense. Narrator: They know first-hand that every capture is unique, with a lot of variables and guess work. Stephane: We're about 40 minutes after the darting, and I'm a little worried because I'm asking the guy the temperature and it seems to drop and drop and drop. And if this animal is getting hypothermia, then it's really an issue to release it like that. So, I'm asking Hafiz also for his jacket. I'm putting the jacket on the animal to be sure that keeping it warmer. Boone: If this cat goes hypothermic, we could lose him. In the moment, you're just dying. This is a big deal. Boone: Here we go. Narrator: Head movement, it's a good sign. The first snow leopard ever caught for research in Afghanistan is waking up. John: Good job. Stephane: Okay, we move. Boone: What a great moment. This was my "Holy Grail" for animals I wanted to catch. Stephane: Watch out he will be more and more conscious. So it, it can be very dangerous now. And if he sees people around he will jump, try to get on the cliff and it will be a disaster. Narrator: The team steps back to a safe distance. The drug they're using will wipe out the cat's memory of the capture, but also leaves him groggy when he wakes up. In this rocky, unstable, terrain, that could mean trouble, so they don't want to startle him. Stephane: So we darted the guy at 1:52 a.m. Now it's five. So it's about three hours. He's doing fine. I was a little actually worried that he was not kind of well balanced when start climbing this rock. But then, the tail clearly regained mobility and he had a much better grip on the rocks. Boone: He's still a little wobbly which is the side effect of Thiazole. They come out a little rocky and of course it's harder to get out the rocks here. And he went up and there were a couple of spots I thought "ah, he's not going to make that move, he's gonna slip off the ledge." But it shows you the agility of these cats. Stephane: Is really, it's such a steep cliff. I wouldn't want him to. If he falls now, he dies, clearly. He's really. Ohh, Tsk. Boone: Absolutely incredible but hairy. Serious, you sweating that? John: Holy cow. If we lose a cat, we've lost a significant percent of the population. It could have a potentially biological impact. Boone: I'm like, "don't do that, don't do that." But it looks like he just cleared the top. There's going to be a little saddle and course there's more of that. But the longer he goes the better he gets. Man, he just picked the sketchiest line on the face of the mountain. There is about three spots from here that didn't look like he could make it through it. And he made it. I mean kind of actually walked the, the edge just wide enough wobbly and, and he just cleared the top. It's unreal. One loop, that's all we have out, and we get a snow leopard to step in it. Five, six hours after we set it up. What do you even say about that? We're either the best in the world, or the luckiest guys on the planet! You know, I've gained a pretty healthy respect for this cat. I get why it's a myth and why it's a legend. John: I always kinda in my mind thank the animal for that privilege and apologize to the animal for the intrusion. Boone: We feel a responsibility for an animal we've collared. We've taken some liberties with it obviously. And we're justifying that because of what we're going to gain back in the big picture of conservation. If we could go do this, follow a couple collared animals around for a couple months, I mean, it'd blow our minds what we'd know. Over the next few days, we see incredible telemetry data from the satellite collar. Our cat is now fully recovered and hunting one valley over. Hussain: Here, maybe, around about golden marmots. He's looking and hunting. Narrator: The data shows he's running a larger loop than they expected. Hoping to capture additional cats, the team sets ten more snares. But a week passes and no new cats. Boone's time is up; he grabs the last humanitarian flight out. Boone: There is a part of me that honestly is really, really sad to leave. Narrator: John stays behind to monitor their snare lines. Boone: Would have loved to have had one more; would have loved to have had two. Narrator: His disappointment is short-lived. Boone: All right it is Saturday and have left the Wakhan Valley and we get the message that the guys caught another leopard. It's the same snare where we caught the first one, which is crazy. Narrator: Ali took the first shot, this time he nailed it. David: I think that the Afghan people will now have a greater appreciation for the science we do and why we do it. Because it's part of what they are and where they are. And I think that in the future, we'll be turning more and more over to our young afghan teammates. Narrator: Now with two collared cats, the afghan people have taken the first big step toward understanding and protecting this endangered and remarkable cat.