The world has been marking International Snow Leopard Day for the sixth year running. This holiday was established in October 2013 during the Global Snow Leopard Forum in Bishkek. Representatives of 12 countries, which are habitat to the rare predator that is listed in the Red Data Book, attended the forum.

Snow leopards roam seven Russian regions, including the Altai Republic, Buryatia, Tyva, Khakassia, the Trans-Baikal and Krasnoyarsk territories and the Irkutsk Region. They form seven stable populations, and the largest population is recorded in the Krasnoyarsk Territory’s Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve. 

“As of 2019, three snow leopards, including an endemic male named Ikhtyandr and two snow leopards brought from Tajikistan, inhabit Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve.  Constant observations of the group indicate that the males use one set of paths, while the female travels along a separate path. Snow leopards actively develop the reserve’s territory and are regularly recorded by automatic camera traps, installed along the local reservoir’s shoreline and in the valleys of large rivers,” Roman Afanasyev, who is in charge of the reserve’s research division, noted.

The reserve features camera traps and video recorders for monitoring and protecting the wild felines. Expeditions involving employees from the reserve’s research and animal protection divisions are organised on a regular basis.