Kazakhstan celebrates Int’l Snow Leopard Day

ALMATY. KAZINFORM – International Snow Leopard Day is an annual holiday celebrated in different countries across the world. It is dedicated to saving one of the rarest wild cats on the planet, Kazinform correspondent reports.
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The snow leopard, also known as the ounce, is a large cat that inhabits alpine and subalpine zones in the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. According to experts, there are about 4000 snow leopards in the world. The number of snow leopards in Kazakhstan equals to 130-150. Ounce inhabits the mountains of the Tien Shan, Zhetysu Alatau, Tarbagatai, Saur and Altai.

According to Talgat Kerteshev, the project manager of the UN development program, over 290 camera traps for nature reserves and national parks of Almaty, Turkestan and East Kazakhstan regions were purchased this year to monitor snow leopard population, assess its bio-ecological characteristics, and determine its habitat.

Snow leopard is listed in the IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature, in the Appendix of CITES Conventions (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), and in the Red Book of Kazakhstan.

International Snow Leopard Day was initiated by the countries that encompass the snow leopard’s range. They include Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. On October 23, 2013 they signed the Bishkek Declaration on the conservation of snow leopard at the First Global Snow Leopard Forum that took place in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

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