International Snow Leopard Day in Russia
The club of mountain climbers climbed the Borus, one the peaks of Sayan Mountains to celebrate the event and raise awareness on snow leopard conservation. Kids Clubs of WWF Friends of six regions of Altai-Sayan organized symbolic climbing of the near-by hill to call on saving a rare predator. The event was widely covered by local and federal media.
Children and adults joined the unusual event – a symbolic climbing the near-by mountains to record the video to call for action to save a snow leopard. Some groups had a photo session to post on social networks and youtube.
The main participants were the members of Kids Clubs of WWF Friends who are WWF’s main volunteer supporters in awareness raising among local people. Some Clubs also collected rubbish thrown away by the tourists, had some additional events.
The members of Youth Ministry of Republic of Tyva combined the event with a month-long-event to raise awareness on snow leopard conservation. More than 150 students in Erzinsky Region of Republic of Tyva recorded a video-message to the world.
In Altaisky Region business also joined the event. The company that sells electronic equipment is one the active donors in the region is willing to donate for snow leopard conservation. They joined the members of WWF Kids Club on October, 23 to make it together.
Artem Krainov, the student of the Biology Department of Altai State University says “I liked the event very much. It is something to remember for a long time. We pretended to be snow leopards while climbing the hill near Barnaul, the city where I live. We has so much fun and did a good job in raising awareness about the need for conservation of a rare predator”.
All participants had little souvenirs and WWF letters. They we’ll continue inspiring the others and participation in the nature conservation programmes of Altai-Sayan Ecoregion.
