KAZAN, March 14. /TASS/. Over the last ten years, the population of snow leopards in Russia has increased from 10 to 87 individuals, reported the Chairman of the general meeting of the interregional association "Irbis", Ali Uzdenov, at the international conference "Study and Conservation of Snow Leopards in the world. Join efforts."
"Human impact, lack of a food base, poaching of the snow leopard itself and the ungulates it feeds on, mining, and a number of other factors have significantly reduced the number of snow leopards. Ten years ago, only 10-15 individuals were documented in Russia. In 2024, we conducted the first all-Russian census and can say that we have 87 of them," he said.
Uzdenov noted that today the snow leopard resides in four regions of Russia: the Altai Republic, Tuva, Buryatia, and the Krasnoyarsk region.
The conference is scheduled to approve a resolution on Friday. "The Kazan resolution will be approved, which will showcase Russia's position in international cooperation on the issue of snow leopard conservation and the attention paid to the snow leopard in our country. The adoption of the resolution will facilitate the unification of efforts to preserve this rarest and most beautiful species of animal," Uzdenov said.
Some 180 participants from 12 countries, including Russia, Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, took part in the conference. "For the first time, we have managed to gather all 12 countries where the snow leopard inhabits," Uzdenov said. The International Conference "Study and Conservation of Snow Leopard in the World" is being held in Kazan from March 13 to 15. The event is organized by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, the Government of Tatarstan, and the Irbis Association.