Oleg Loginov
Snow leopard, is one of the rarest mammals of Kazakhstan. In spite of protections by law, this cat need protection by the people. But they need to understand the ecology of the mountains, and see the benefits of conservation, or snow leopard survival will continue to be threatened.
We consider that in Kazakhstan of utmost importance for snow leopard conservation is a public awareness and education program. Our program will be designed to generate an active corps of enthusiastic fans of nature and wildlife. The mass media plays a great role in public opinion formation. In Kazakhstan all their types are accessible: newspapers and magazines, Internet, radio and TV. We assume to make not less than 8-10 newspaper and magazine publications and 3-4 TV interviews.
List how many newspaper, magazine or radio messages you intend to produce. Having experience of journalistic and writing work, we plan to actively use the potential of "the printed word," With that end in view we will publish a brochure (in both Russian and Kazakh) which includes Irina Loginova's fairy tale about snow leopards, "Spirits of Sacred Mountain," information on this animal and its special symbolical status in Kazakhstan, and necessity of conservation.
Also we will release posters, calendars, and other materials that will have a wide appeal throughout Russia, featuring the beautiful mountains of Kazakhstan and their living symbol - snow leopard. We will produce these materials via paid advertising from businesses of the country.
In Kazakhstan there are many hunting areas, both private and belonging to regional societies of hunters and fishers. They can play an important role in protecting the snow leopard, its prey, and the other rare species inhabiting the mountains. We will hold training seminars, and work with the hunters to develop methods of sustainable natural resource use, and maintenance or restoration of stable wildlife numbers. Besides, experts of hunting economy can give us important information on number and distribution of snow leopard in a region.
For the schools, we will work with the Snow Leopard Conservancy to adapt materials already
produced for India, Nepal and Russia. Materials include a teacher’s guide and a set of interactive lessons for various age groups.