Celebration in honor of the rarest cat in Primorye

On September 20-21 villagers of Slyavyanka and Volno-Nadezhdinskoye in Primorye will hold a solemn celebration of Day of the leopard.

The Amur leopard is one of the rarest species on the planet, there are less than 50 individuals. There are about 30-40 spotted predators in Primorye and about 10 in China. In Primorye about half  of the areal of the Amur leopard is in the territory of the National Park «Land of the Leopard», created in 2012

It is the northernmost subspecies of the leopard, this predator is in the Red Book of Russia, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and in Appendix I of the the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The Russian Geographic Society has been supporting the project for the protection and study of the animal since 2011.

Thanks to the promotion of Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Sergei Ivanov, 360 thousand hectares of habitat of the Amur leopard in southwest Primorye have been taken under different protection regimes. Control gain boosted the increase in number of leopards in 1.5 times: now they are about 50 leopard, and according to the National Park “Land of the Leopard” this is not the limit.

«During the long history of Day of the leopard in the Khasan and Nadezhdinsky districts this rare cat of course became closer to the locals, – says head of environmental education of «Land of the Leopard» Valentine Vysotsky. – We hope that through our joint efforts and work of the National Park residents of these areas will feel benefits and joy of such neighborhood. By the way now anyone can become closer to the spotted cat by taking part in our competition “Keeper of the leopard” By sending an application to the National Park you get a chance to choose a name for one of the most endangered predators in the world. All the details you can find on the website “Land of the Leopard.”

This year the holiday will continue two days, during which fairs, festivals and performances will be held. Thus, in the village of Slavyanka  “Talent Fair of “Land of the Leopard ” will be held on September 20. 16 school teams from the villages of Khasan district and two school teams from Nadezhdinsky district will participate. At 10:15 a parade led by a Leopard and a Panda will move from the Center of children’s creativity “Inspiration” to the central square.

On September 21 at 11:00 am in the central square of Volno-Nadezhdinskoye the 7th Environment Festival “Land of the Leopard» will solemnly open. Students of 12 local schools will parade here from the House of Culture. Then the show will start, which will be attended by leopard Kedrovka, and leopard Shufansky. Everyone will be able to have a «leopard make up» done and draw a rare animal on the pavement.