The Snow Leopard Land Festival, aimed at highlighting the issue of snow leopard preservation in Russia, will be held in Gorno-Altaisk, capital of the Republic of Altai, in mid-September.

The first Snow Leopard Land Festival was held in September 2011 and was attended by delegates from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and the United States. In 2012, the festival received support from the Republic of Altai Government and also highlighted the conservation of two other animals found in Altai which are also listed in the Red Data Book – the Altai Snowcock and Pallas’s cat (manul).

This year the festival will be held for a third time, and there are plans to make it an annual event. The organisers’ ambition is to make it as popular as International Tiger Day in the Far East. As has become tradition, the festival’s main highlight will be a competition of performances in fancy dress (songs, dances and dramatised numbers), to be judged by a jury and spectators. The winners will be awarded prizes and presents. The show will be the main feature of a series of events held in the republic as part of Environmental Protection Year.