Djazator, Russia — One of the most endangered animals on the planet is the Altai snow leopard. Thanks to the three decades of hunting and poaching, the elusive cats in the remote mountains of Southern Siberia were almost wiped out from existence.
In the village of Djazator, CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer met former poacher Boris Markov, who said just one pelt used to fetch him enough cash to buy a car.
Palmer and her team traveled off road, even on horseback, to get deep into Russia's Sailugemsky National Park, where they met the park's biologist and researcher Alexei Kuzhlekov. He's part of an innovative program to bring the leopards back.
Their goal is to shoot animals, not with guns, but rather with motion-triggered cameras, which are hidden everywhere across the Siberian backcountry.
The results are astounding; intimate photos of incredibly shy animals that will do just about anything to avoid human beings.
Even Alexei, who studies the animals and knows as much about them as just about anyone, has only seen a snow leopard once.
But what did people like Alexei do that made poachers stop poaching?
Find out on CBS News.
(Image Credit: World Wild Fund For Nature)
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Cats that are adapted to cold climates are so attractive. Like the Canada lynx, snow leopards are big, floofy murder machines.
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