Head of the Republic of Altai Alexander Berdnikov has announced the development of a programme to preserve the snow leopard in the republic. The project envisages the release of snow leopards brought up at a nursery in Tatarstan into the wild in the Altai Mountains.

“We have the largest snow leopard population in Russia and Mr Minnikhanov (President of Tatarstan) and I have agreed to give an instruction to our ministers of environment and natural resources to develop a programme for the conservation of snow leopards. This is very important for our indigenous peoples. A nursery will be established in Tatarstan soon for snow leopard cubs, which will later be released into the wild in the Altai Mountains,” Mr Berdnikov said.

The construction of the reintroduction centre, which will focus on rehabilitation, breeding and protection of snow leopards, is planned for 2018. Snow leopards will also be released in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in particular, in the Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve.