Saudi Arabia announces a range of activities to mark the second annual Arabian Leopard Day, and inaugurates the first Arabian Leopard Week, from the grassroots to the mountaintops and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia classrooms to the US billboards.
Led by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) alongside its conservation partners, the events are geared to increase awareness of the leopards’ plight and build public support for actions to conserve the species.
Arabian Leopard Day is formally celebrated on February 10, but this year’s planned events extend before and after that date to launch the first ever Arabian Leopard Week to allow greater public participation and general awareness of the significance of the day.
From an outdoor campaign to spread international awareness through a video highlighting the plight of the Arabian Leopard to a new seven-kilometre permanent trail at AlUla’s Sharaan Nature Reserve emphasising the connection between healthy habitats and healthy species, and a digital exhibition in the city’s Ashar Valley with projections of the Arabian Leopard being beamed onto the surrounding Hijaz Mountains, the events intend to provide an overview of the Arabian Leopard and conservation efforts to save the species.
Dr. Stephen Browne, Wildlife & Natural Heritage Executive Director at RCU, said “The Arabian Leopard is a formidable symbol of our aim to conserve and safeguard AlUla’s natural environment. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that the Arabian Leopard is Critically Endangered with threats to its natural habitat highlighting the pressing need to step up conservation efforts that are so vital to the species’ long-term survival. It is our ongoing commitment to mark Arabian Leopard Day and engage with activities to raise awareness of, and help to protect, these magnificent big cats.”
David Chancellor
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) ranks the Arabian Leopard as Critically Endangered in the wild, a level of risk more severe than Vulnerable or Endangered. If the population continues to decline, the next stages on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species are Extinct in the Wild and, lastly, Extinct.
Safeguarding the future of the Arabian Leopard is an objective closely linked with Saudi pride and identity. As more and more people become aware of the plight of the species and its role in our shared history, support for conservation efforts has grown across the Kingdom.
