International Snow Leopard Day

In 2013, the first International Forum dedicated to the conservation of the snow leopard was held in Bishkek with the participation of representatives from 12 countries Mammals of the cat family live in Southern Siberia, in China, India, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and a number of other countries The animal is endangered, which is why it was listed in the Red Book of the USSR back in 1978 The date of the international forum, October 23, became International Snow Leopard Day, which is also called the ibis The habitat of the predatory mammal is the high mountainous regions of Central Asia The ibis is valuable for its uniquely colored fur, which is why it often becomes prey for poachers One of the problems is the narrowing of its natural habitat due to the increase in areas for grazing livestock One of the threats to the life of ibises is climate change on the planet - global warming International Snow Leopard Day calls for attention to the decline in the leopard population and the risk of extinction of this rare species of the cat family in the future The total number of ibises in the world ranges from 3-7 thousand individuals It is difficult to say more precisely due to the remoteness and altitude of the predators’ habitat - 5000 m above sea level About 80 snow leopards live in Russia 50 of them were recorded by video cameras and identified by a pattern on the skin, which is unique to each animal, like, for example, the color of giraffes Counting snow leopards in Russia and the Siberian ibex, which the ibis hunts for food, has been carried out annually since 2017 at the initiative of WWF In 2017, the next International Conference on the conservation of ibises and their ecosystems was held in Bishkek Russian representatives of WWF took the initiative to use the mammal monitoring system used in Siberia and other countries of the world To do this, automatic cameras are distributed among the sectors of the range where leopards are most often observed The collected data is subjected to computer analysis The inaccessibility to zoologists of the areas where the ibis lives is the main reason that it is one of the least studied mammals of the cat family International Snow Leopard Day, which falls on October 23, aims to raise awareness and prevent the extinction of the animal's population