The Chief of Staff of the Russian Presidential Executive Office, Sergei Ivanov, presented a photo of a Far Eastern leopard taken by a trail camera to Renova Group Chairman of the Board Viktor Vekselberg, the general sponsor of the KES-Basket school basketball league tournaments. Mr Ivanov also presented a Leopard Keeper certificate to the KES-Basket league at a ceremony in the Volga Sport Arena ice palace in Ulyanovsk.

“This is one of the leopards spotted by a trail camera. We can’t get close to leopards, so we watch them through these cameras. This is a two-year-old male, and he doesn’t have a name yet,” Mr Ivanov added when handing the picture to Mr Vekselberg.

As of now, the name of this male leopard is Leo46M. The opportunity to give him a real name will be given to the team that wins the superfinals of the KES-Basket National School Basketball League.

Mr Ivanov told journalists that the Far Eastern Leopard project is going well: “Everything is all right with Russia’s leopards. For those who don’t know, the Far Eastern leopard is the rarest wild cat in the world; there are no more than 55-60 animals in total.” He added that he likes these animals a lot.

In 2011, in order to protect and increase the population of the Far Eastern leopard, the Far Eastern Leopards non-profit organisation was founded in Russia. Sergei Ivanov heads the organisation’s supervisory board. In 2012, Land of the Leopard National Park was established in Primorye Territory to preserve the leopard habitat. Researchers believe that these measures will allow for a stable population of up to 150 Far Eastern leopards in Russia, which would guarantee the survival of this rare species.