Minister of Ecology paid a visit to the Persian Leopard Breeding and Rehabilitation Centre in the Caucasus. This experience will be used in the creation of theSnow Leopard Breeding Centre in Tatarstan

Farid Abdulganiyev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the RepublicofTatarstan, paid a visit to the Persian Leopard Breeding and Rehabilitation CenterintheCaucasus (inSochiNationalPark). He checked out the living conditions of the Persian leopard,where the specialists pair the animals, tend for newly-born cubs and prepare young leopards for releasing into the wild. TheexperienceofSochi colleagueswillbeusedfor the creation of thesimilar interregionalcenter for the snow leopard reintroduction, rehabilitation, breeding and conservation. It is planned to breed the Tatarstan's symbol inZelenodolsk District-based Sviyajsk game hunting area.

In Russia, the snow leopard is as rare an animal as the Siberian tiger and the Amur leopard. In 2014, toconservethe Red List animal, the Strategy for Conservation of the SnowLeopard in the Russian Federation was adopted by the government to conserve at least 150 snow leopards. In addition to the LeopardBreeding Center, it is planned to establish a snow leopard rehabilitation and reintroduction center based on Sayano-Shushenskiy Nature Reserve, where snow leopard orphan cubs taken forcedly from the wildand those born in Tatarstan will be bred. MinisterFaridAbdulganiyevwasaccompaniedbyRustem Kamalov, First Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan; Fanis Nurmukhametov, Director of Kazan Zoo Botanical Garden Municipal Budgetary Cultural Institution; Yuri Matveev, Deputy Director of Fauna Protection and Exploitation Directorate in the Republic of Tatarstan; Gennady Kiselyov, Director of Sayano-Shushenski Nature Reserve Federal State Budgetary Institution; Nikolai Penkovsky, Director of Sochi National Park Federal State Budgetary Institution.

Press Service of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan