{"id":438917,"date":"2026-01-28T15:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438917\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:50:17","slug":"tourist-mauled-by-snow-leopard-while-trying-to-take-photo-chinese-media-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438917\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourist mauled by snow leopard while trying to take photo, Chinese media reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

A female skier has been mauled by a snow leopard in China after she attempted to get a selfie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rare attack happened at the Keketuohai Scenic Area in Altay prefecture, a winter tourism destination, Chinese media and CNN have reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Footage widely shared on Chinese social media shows the leopard in a snowfield, then cuts to the animal approaching a person lying on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The snow leopard is seen leaning over the woman’s body before it reportedly stalked away. (ABC News: Supplied)<\/p>\n

\u00a0CNN reported the skier was bitten while on her way back to her hotel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The video shows bystanders helping the injured woman to safety while she clutches her face, which is obscured by a ski helmet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The woman has reportedly been taken to hospital, where she is in a stable condition.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Video on social media shows the woman being escorted away. (ABC News: Supplied)<\/p>\n

China is home to the largest number of wild snow leopards in the world and shares a border with nine countries where they are found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Are snow leopards aggressive?<\/p>\n

According to various snow leopard conservation organisations, there have been no verified instances of a snow leopard attacking a human.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Snow Leopard Trust, a conservation charity, they are shy and elusive with a solitary nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While they are not seen as a threat to humans, they are able to kill animals two to four times their own weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The big cats are most active at dawn and dusk and regularly patrol home ranges that can cover hundreds of square kilometres.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A snow leopard is usually more likely to run away when disturbed by a human than attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How rare are snow leopards?<\/p>\n

Snow leopards are also found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n

Exact numbers are unknown, but there may be as few as 3,920 worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The species faces several threats, including poaching.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Its main prey, such as wild sheep and goats, are also threatened by hunting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mining and climate change also pose threats to their habitats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Approximately 600 snow leopards live in captivity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Australia, snow leopards are found at Taronga, Billabong, and the Melbourne Zoo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A female skier has been mauled by a snow leopard in China after she attempted to get a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,95,295,182024,66,182023,182022,182021],"class_list":{"0":"post-438917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-china","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-keketuohai-scenic-area","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-selfie-snow-leopard-attack","15":"tag-skier-attacked-by-snow-leopard","16":"tag-snow-leopard-attack"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}