The joint directorate of the Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve and Shushensky Bor National Park together with the Khakass branch of the Russian Geographical Society held an educational lecture, The Snow Leopard: A Living Symbol of the Western Sayan Mountains.

The Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve is the historical habitat of the snow leopard. Rock carvings discovered along the banks of the Sayan Canyon indicate that the snow leopard has lived in these areas since ancient times. The Sayano-Shushensky Reserve is the northernmost area of the Russian and world habitat of the snow leopard. The study of the snow leopard in the Sayano-Shushensky Reserve began in February 1978, after zoologist Boris Zavatsky discovered traces of this rare animal in the Bolshiye Ury River basin.

Over the last 10 years, the conservation and study of the snow leopard in southern Siberia has been carried out under the Snow Leopard: A Living Symbol of the Western Sayan programme initiated by President Vladimir Putin and supported by the Russian Geographical Society. In 2018-2019, as part of the federal programme to restore the number of snow leopards in the Sayano-Shushensky Reserve, an experiment was carried out on the translocation of snow leopards from Tajikistan. Back then, two snow leopards brought from Tajikistan, a male and a female, were released into the reserve. In 2020, the female gave birth to two cubs, and in 2022 she became the mother of three more.

Today, the nine snow leopards can regularly be seen in the Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve.