Conservationists say the pictures are proof that the species is slowly making a comeback

Dec 27, 2013 21:21 GMT  ·  By

Just yesterday, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released several pictures of a pair of snow leopard cubs. The pictures were taken in the Argut River Valley in eastern Russia not very long ago with the help of camera traps.

On its website, the organization details that, back in the 1990s, snow leopards living in this region were hunted close to extinction by poachers.

However, thanks to conservation efforts, their population is now steadily increasing. Thus, the presence of these two cubs proves that the species is slowly making a comeback in the area, the WWF argues.

“These photos are the evidence of the effectiveness of our work in Altai, the snow leopards are breeding,” explains Sergei Spitsyn with the Altaiskiy State Nature Reserve.

According to the organization, the increase in the number of snow leopards living in the Argut River Valley is largely due to the fact that, back in 2011, WWF-Russia and several other green groups rolled out a new campaign meant to protect this species.

As part of this campaign, anti-poaching raids were carried out in areas inhabited by such felines. What's more, conservationists and authorities worked together to destroy snares and retrieve illegal weapons used to hunt this species.