Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh has declared the black-necked crane and snow leopard as state's bird and animal respectively. The Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory has made this declaration almost two years after a legislation was passed by President Ram Nath Kovind regarding the bifurcation of the state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) into two UT – Ladakh and J&K.
Earlier, the black-necked crane was the state bird and Hangul was the state animal of the former state of J&K. Recently, the black-necked crane has been chosen as the state bird as it is only found in the eastern region of Ladakh. The snow leopards are mainly found in the western and eastern regions of the Himalayas, including Ladakh, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The official notification said, "The Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Ladakh is pleased to declare snow leopard (Panther unica) and black–necked crane (Grus nicricollis) as state animal and state bird, respectively, of the union territory of Ladakh from the date of issue of this notification."
Joint Director Wildlife Jammu & Kashmir Research Institute, Tahir Shawl said, "the high altitude wetlands in trans-Himalayan region of India are breeding grounds of many species of migratory waterfowl and play host to species like Black-necked Crane and Bar-headed Geese during summer. The erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State had the black-necked crane and Kashmir stag (Hangul) as its state bird and animal respectively. While the black-necked crane is found in eastern Ladakh, Hangul is in Kashmir now after bifurcation Ladakh has perhaps taken the decision as Hangul – the mammal does not found there."