Vyacheslav Rozhnov, head of the programme to study and monitor the snow leopards of southern Siberia, signed a four-party agreement for scientific cooperation between the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Environment and Evolution and the Sayano-Shushensky (director Alexander Rassolov), Khakassky (director Gennady Kiselyov) and Ubsunurskaya Basin (director Vladislav Kanzai) natural reserves. The programme is being conducted by a permanent research team of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the support of the Russian Geographical Society.

The agreement provides for the study of snow leopards in the reserves using modern hormonal, zoological and veterinary techniques, non-invasive molecular and genetic identification of snow leopards, and specially trained dogs. The agreement also provides for the capture and tagging of leopards with tracking collars, as well as the photographic identification of animals.