International Snow leopard Day at The Big Cat Sanctuary

We are over the moon to celebrate International Snow leopard Day with the announcement of a Snow leopard cub born at the Sanctuary.

International Snow leopard Day is an annual celebration which aims to raise awareness of one of the rarest wild cats on the planet. The first International Snow leopard day took place in 2014, and the main goal is to highlight the importance of Snow leopard conservation to help protect the species and to prevent the threats they are facing in the wild.

On 15th September, we welcomed to the world a male Snow leopard cub, from our breeding pair Laila and Yarko. The male cub is being referred as ‘Little cub’ for now and is weighing at 2.3kg and is growing bigger by the day. The little cub is being kept inside and off show until he has had all his vaccinations at around 3 months old.

The Sanctuary has had two successes over the past 3 years as part of the Endangered Species Breeding Programme for Snow leopards. Laila and Yarko bred successfully in 2019 and produced two male cubs, Koshi and Khumbu. Both cats will hopefully go on to have cubs of their own and play their part in the programme which aims to conserve and protect the genetic bloodline and sustainable population of Snow leopards in captivity. The breeding programme helps to conserve and protect the species to supplement those in the wild; should it become viable to do so before it’s too late.

Snow leopards are classed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list and there estimated to be around 4000-6000 Snow leopards in the wild, spread across 12 countries in Central Asia. Snow leopards are highly elusive, however their main threats in the wild are poaching for their fur, habitat loss, declining number of prey and the traditional medicine trade.

We are proud to be partnered with the Snow Leopard Trust, which helps to raise awareness for the conservation and protection of Snow leopards. Snow Leopard Trust’s mission is to understand the endangered Snow leopard and to protect the cat in partnership with the communities that share its habitat.

For our newest member of The Big Cat Sanctuary family, we will be running a naming competition which is when members of the public can help to decide his name. The cub and his mum, Laila, are now both available to adopt together on our website. 25% of the money raised from adoptions and the naming competition for the cub will go towards Snow leopard Trust once the cub has been named. Keep an eye on our website and social media for more information on our naming competition!

By becoming an Adopter, Member or booking onto a lodge stay or an experience at the Sanctuary not only helps us to take care of all our cats, but it also allows us to help support organisations around the world, like Snow leopard Trust, to help protect the endangered species.

We welcome the newest addition to The Big Cat family with love, as we know that he will help the conservation and protection towards his Snow leopard cousins in the wild. We look forward to sharing updates on our cub over the next few weeks and we hope you are excited to see him grow and develop!