Schoolchildren briefed about conservation of snow leopard

CHITRAL: The World Snow Leopard day is celebrated on Oct 23 ever year to highlight the significance of conservation of this iconic species and raise awareness about the myriad of threats faced by the ghost of mountain.

The Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF) is working with communities for the conservation of this magnificent cat, aiming to change the perception and enhance tolerance which is pivotal for its survival since 2008.

The day was celebrated in Chitral with the theme of “Building perception for survival of snow leopard and ecosystem.” In this regard, an event was organized at Ideal Public School and College, Koghuzi.

District Forest Officer (DFO) Chitral Gol National Park was the chief guest on this occasion. A presentation was given to participants about the conservation activities carried out by SLF in safeguarding this hallmark species by Ejazur Rehman, Natural Resource Management Specialist of SLF.

At the end of the presentation, a question and answer session was held regarding snow leopard and importance of wildlife for survival of human being.

Then a speech competition, in accordance with the theme of the day, was carried out among the students of various schools and prizes were distributed among the winners by chief guest while sports kits were handed over to the active Nature clubs of the schools.

Mr. Shafiqullah Khan, Regional Coordinator and Manager of SLF Chitral, briefed the participants about the overall conservation activities and shared the upcoming strategies and proposed plans to be initiated by SLF in near future regarding robust community involvement for effective conservation and management of Snow leopard in this whole landscape. He thanked the students and teachers of the schools for active contribution in this eventful program. –Bashir Hussain Azad