American conservation organization. The main goal is the conservation of snow leopards (snow leopards or irbis) that live in the Asian region and are under the threat of extinction. To date, several thousand individuals remain in the wild, which is not bad, because in the middle of the last century there were less than a thousand of them. The cost of the skin of an irbis (Latin name - panthera uncia) ranges from 50 to 60 thousand dollars on the black market, which attracts poachers.
The foundation was founded in 1981 by Helen Freeman. For a long time she worked as a volunteer at the zoo Woodland Park Zoothat in Seattle, Washington, USA (Seattle, Washington, USA). There it became attached to the snow leopards. Despite the fact that she was already 49 years old, she, together with the zoo workers, developed a vigorous activity, the result of which was the emergence of the foundation. Helen passed away in 2007 at the age of 75.
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| Snow leopard (image from the official website) |
Over these decades, the foundation has done a huge amount of work in the study and conservation of snow leopards. For work, both time-tested methods and the latest technologies are used, an important role is played by educational activities among the population.
Headquarters Snow Leopard Trust located in Seattle, where it all began. There is constant active cooperation with other organizations, for example, with the environmental fund WHF (Wildlife Heritage Foundation).
