# Guidelines for Telemetry Studies on Snow Leopards
## 5 Snow Leopard Captures Using Foot Snares
### Handling of Animals  
The purpose of the immobilization is almost always to fit a collar and collect samples under safe and ethically approved conditions. Rarely is it necessary to achieve complete anaesthesia (unconsciousness), and, consequently, the type of drug and dosage used is selected to allow for a rapid recovery and minimal side effects such as respiratory or cardiac depression. The most commonly used drugs to immobilize free-ranging snow leopards have been a combination of tranquilizers/sedatives and anesthetics, e.g., medetomidine and ketamine or medetomidine and zolazepam-tiletamine [41; 44]. Because the snow leopards are not completely anaest they will feel pain and can react to outside stimuli such as sounds and light. Staff attending captures should speak with low voices and treat the animals gently and with care to avoid stressing them, or in the worst case temporarily arousing them. Captures should only be conducted by professional staff with adequate training and experience to conduct the work in a safe and ethical way. A correctly calculated drug dose, allowing rapid recovery and sufficient anaesthesia, induces immobilization for 40-60 min on average. Completing the entire operation within that time frame requires a plan with designated tasks and that the team works efficiently. A blindfold should be applied to the snow leopard to prevent debris from getting caught in the eyes, damaging the eyes with strong headlamps or sunlight, and to avoid visual stimuli that can stress the animal.  
Im immobilized animals should be monitored throughout the capture until they recover. Properly planned and executed monitoring allows for rapid recognition of expected and unexpected complications. Consistent monitoring and recording (See Figure 2) throughout the chemical immobilization event enable the capture team to prevent or intervene ahead of those complications through real-time analysis of trends. Should any parameter deviate outside the normal range or show a trend that is considered not to be normal it is necessary that staff have knowledge and ability of how to respond. Once immobilized, the animal should be placed into a position that allows accurate and effective monitoring and does not affect breathing or stops circulation. The most important parameters to monitor are airway, rectal temperature, depth of anesthesia, respiration (rate and depth) and cardiovascular function (heart rate), and the related oxygen saturation in the blood (as measured by pulse oximetry). Snow leopards appear to cool down rapidly if exposed to wind, even at relatively mild temperatures around 0 \({}^{\circ}\)C (Johansson. Unpublished data). Similarly, exposure to direct sunlight can cause hyperthermia. All observations, samples, measurements, and activities undertaken during the immobilization should be recorded on a data form. Video documentation should also be recorded if possible, as it may be very helpful to review if issues arise during the capture process. In addition, given that the opportunity to take measurements and samples from free-ranging snow leopards is rare, every effort should be made to collect as much data as possible.