ABOUT THE IRBIS ASSOCIATION

In 2023, the Moscow Zoo upgraded its aviary for keeping snow leopards. The new enclosure is designed in accordance with international requirements and standards for keeping animals in captivity.

Two years ago, the premiere of the first Russian dance production about the snow leopard "Guardians of the Mountain Peaks" took place in the Altai Republic. The idea belongs to Sailugemsky National Park and enthusiasts of the dance and wellness studio "Stimul" in Gorno-Altaysk. With the help of our partners, we sewed costumes, wrote music, and came up with a script for a unique show.

It is based on the real story of a female Vita and two kittens. Unfortunately, in real life, a family of snow leopards is killed in the nooses of poachers, but on the stage there is a happy ending — the animals are saved by local residents. The artists play from the bottom of their hearts, the production cannot be viewed indifferently.

Thanks to the Interregional Association "Irbis", the Altai Republic saw the performance — the dancers had their first tour. The children and adults toured 9 municipalities of the Altai Republic, visited Moscow, and drew attention to the problem of preserving rare and endangered animal species among more than 2,500 people. On the stage of regional centers and villages, children danced and played to tell how fragile nature is and how important it is to preserve it, and the artists were among the first to visit Moscow on a unique the exhibition "Snow Leopard is an invisible cat. See and Save", organized by the Irbis Association and the Tretyakov Gallery.

Since 2021, Sailyugemsky National Park and its partners have been restoring the numbers of the Saker falcon, which has almost disappeared from the Altai nature. In 2021−2023, 21 Saker falcons were released into nature.

The hacking method was chosen to revive the grouping. From June to July, the chicks of the rare Saker falcon from the nursery are held in special boxes on the territory of the Sailugem National Park. Birds receive food in a special hole in aviaries without direct contact with humans. One wall of the hake is covered with a net, and the walls and roof reliably protect the chicks from the weather.

Before opening the hake wall, each bird is ringed and a secure tattoo is applied. Birds with such "spoiled" appearances are not at all interesting to hunters, the saker falcon has a chance to stay in the wild.

The recovery program for the Saker falcon in Altai is designed for a minimum of 5 years. In 2023, 7 chicks were raised in the wild nature of Altai by hacking, in 2022 — 10 chicks (of which 5 birds were adults), in 2021 — 4 large ones chicks, then the first hacks were installed.

Supporting the work of anti-poaching teams and departments of protection of specially protected natural areas helps to increase the area covered by operational raids, as well as the time of raids. Fuel and lubricants, daily allowances, equipment and uniforms help to strengthen the protection of wildlife.

Thanks to the support of the Interregional Association "Irbis", it was possible to detain poachers on musk deer, Siberian mountain goat. Thanks to the help of the Irbis Association, comfortable compact cabins for overnight stays appeared in the Sailugem National Park in the remote Argut cluster, it was possible to carry out helicopter drop-off of inspectors for operational work, increase the number of raids and strengthen security.

The Irbis Association pays great attention to fostering respect for nature among young people living in the land of the snow leopard. The future of the spotted predator depends on the consciousness and responsibility of these guys.

Nature conservation events were held in schools of the Altai Republic: lessons for children of remote villages in the habitats of the snow leopard and the capital of the region, the city of Gorno—Altaysk, were conducted by employees of the Sailyugemsky National Park with the support of the Irbis Association. The boarding school students of the Altai village of Beltir received gifts from the Interregional Association "Irbis". Gifts to the pupils of a small boarding school in the remote mountainous village of Beltir from partners were given by employees of Sailyugemsky National Park. This is a good annual tradition of nature conservationists. The boarding school mainly houses and studies the children of shepherds, Kosh-Agachsky district of the Altai Republic.

The Irbis Association has supported the Argali-Bendy tournament, the highest-altitude bandy tournament in Russia, which bears the name of the rare Altai mountain sheep and is designed to draw attention to the protection of the species in Russia.

In 2024, with the support of the Irbis Association, a photo contest and a photo exhibition "Wildlife of Altai" were held. The best photographers of the 13th photo contest were awarded, and 772 photos from 107 authors aged 6 to 70 from 55 regions of the country were submitted to the competition.

The national holiday of Gorny Altai, Chagaa Bayram, gathered shepherds from remote areas in the habitats of the snow leopard. The holiday was also supported by the Association.

The Interregional Association "Irbis" supported international expeditions of Russian scientists to Mongolia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in order to share their experience. In addition, the Association regularly helps to conduct scientific field research by experts on snow leopard conservation from the Republics of Altai, Tyva, Buryatia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk Region. Data has been collected on 40 snow leopards in the Altai Republic, for which individual passports have been drawn up.

In 2022, the Irbis Association organized an expedition to share the experience of Altai nature conservationists from Sailugemsky National Park in Tajikistan, where about 300 individuals of the rare predator live. Sailugemsky National Park and the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan have signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of study, conservation of the snow leopard and its habitats. For example, support was provided to remote nature reserves in Kyrgyzstan.: 20 sets of uniforms were transferred to the Sarychat-Ertash State Nature Reserve and the Baiboosun Zharatylysh Korugu Public Nature Reserve during a trip to share the experience of Sailugem National Park staff.

Snow leopard research and monitoring expeditions in key groups in Altai in difficult mountain conditions receive support in the form of fuel, daily allowances, uniforms and equipment. So, in 2023, an expedition took place to the Ukok plateau, the South Chuisky range. Also in 2023, the Association supported the accounting of Altai mountain sheep numbers in the trans-boundary zone of Russia and Mongolia. The accounting results showed a doubling of the Argali population since 2014.

In 2024, the Irbis Association supported the implementation of the All-Russian accounting of the number of snow leopards in Russia. Accounting is carried out with the coordination of Sailyugemsky National Park in the habitats of key groups of the species in order to track changes in the number of snow leopards and the effectiveness of environmental protection measures.

Bright colorful graffiti depicting a family of snow leopards on the background of the Altai Mountains appeared on the wall at the entrance to the Moscow Zoo. The creation of the image was timed to coincide with the opening of a multimedia interactive exhibition in Moscow at the Moscow Zoo "Irbis. The invisible cat."

Snow leopards have been kept in the Moscow zoo for over a hundred years. The first one appeared in 1901.

The exhibition was on display at the Tretyakov Gallery from October 2022 to January 2023. "The snow leopard. To See and Save" has become a unique project, a travel exhibition for the whole family, dedicated to the International Snow Leopard Day. One of the main goals of the exhibition was to draw attention to the disappearance of the snow leopard population in Russia, as there are only 75 individuals left in our country. The snow leopard is included in the Red Book of Russia and the Red Book of the Altai Republic. In Russia, it is found in the mountains of the Altai-Sayan ecoregion (Altai, Tyva, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Buryatia, Irkutsk Region). The largest grouping of snow leopards is recorded in the Altai Republic: 24 individuals live on the territory of Sailyugemsky National Park, founded in 2010 with the aim of preserving the snow leopard and Argali mountain sheep.

In preparation for the project, together with the Board of Trustees of Sailyugemsky National Park, a research expedition was organized for artists to explore the habitats of the snow leopard, which resulted in the creation of objects for the exhibition. The participants of the expedition are Katya Isaeva, Masha Somik and Olga Shurygina. The artist Alina Glazun also took part in the exhibition. Especially for the project, she created a series of objects about the importance of protecting nature.

The exhibition consists of more than 25 works, including graphic works, ethnographic objects and photographs. The interactive exhibition project invites viewers to take part in a journey through the Altai Republic and Sailyugemsky National Park: to get to know the unique nature and wildlife, culture and traditions of the region, and also to learn about the snow leopard— "guardian of the roof of the world" and other Red Book animals and ways to protect them.

The guides on this journey were Boris Smirnov-Rusetsky's fantastic landscapes, created under the influence of Nicholas Roerich, graphic and painterly works by Altai artist Grigory Choros-Gurkin, a student of Ivan Shishkin, ethnographic artifacts, documentary photographs and works by contemporary artists. The viewer was able to plunge into the atmosphere of the leopard’s habitats: to spy on the leopard in its natural environment on videos made with camera traps.

The free exhibition of the Interregional Association "Irbis" consisted of three segments: seven interactive multi-touch stands, a video about a snow leopard on the NAKED EYES media screen on the Main Entrance Tower, and graffiti depicting a snow leopard created near the exit of the metro The barricade.
The stands told how amazing the snow leopard was, using a variety of educational tools: you could touch the stands, go inside the objects of the exhibition, and you could hear the voice of the snow leopard and even touch it. At the first stand, it was possible to read general information about the snow leopard in Russia, then visitors could manually move the figure of the snow leopard along the migration routes of the species. At the third stand, you could compare your hand with a leopard’s paw and touch the "pads of its fingers." At the fourth stand, visitors could see the world through the eyes of a snow leopard using Russia’s first virtual reality helmet in the form of a snow leopard’s head, created on a 3D printer. In the fifth part of the exhibition, everyone could hear the roar of a snow leopard, summoning sounds, and the satisfied grumbling of a snow leopard. The sixth stand gave a chance to touch the snow leopard’s fur, of course, artificial fur made from modern materials. The seventh booth was a photo zone where you could go in and take photos against the backdrop of Mount Belukha in the immediate vicinity of snow leopards.

An animalistically rendered snow leopard appeared on the NAKED EYES screen located on the Main Entrance Tower of the Moscow Zoo, demonstrating its physical capabilities with characteristic jumps and movements.

The newly opened New entrance to the Moscow Zoo (exit from Barrikadnaya metro station) has an image of a snow leopard made in a modern graffiti style. The project attracted the attention of millions of visitors to the importance of preserving the snow leopard.

In the fall of 2023, the exhibition moved to the Limpopo Zoo in Nizhny Novgorod. Nizhny Novgorod residents and guests of the Limpopo Zoo are doubly lucky: they can get to know the snow leopard not only through interactive stands, but also personally. A snow leopard named Alba has been living in the zoo since the end of 2016.