13/05/2023
So very proud of this from 2021 ❤️🙏🏻😻
Our final adult category winner is this amazing shot by Shar Bradford, entered in to our "Conservation in action: The role of Zoos and Aquariums" category.
Shar writes
"Meet Koshi, one of the Snow Leopards born at The Big Cat Sanctuary , now living in Scotland at the Highland Wildlife Park with his new girlfriend. Hoping to raise a family of his own, Koshi will be very much doing his bit for conservation. The snow leopard is a very elusive big cat and not very easy to photograph, so to get this was one of my proudest moments.”
Congratulations 👏👏👏 You should be proud!!!
Captive breeding programs can have a big role in conservation. In some cases animals may be bred in zoos or wildlife centres for direct release. In other cases things may be a bit more complicated, you wouldn't want to release a big cat that was habituated to people for example. But that doesn't mean breeding programs aren't important or won't have a role to play in the future. One of the biggest threats many animals face is habitat loss and fragmentation. When this happens populations can get cut off from each other which can result in in-breeding and a loss of genetic diversity. By controlling breeding in zoos we can create a living genetic library, and ensure that any diversity that is lost in the wild could be re-introduced.
To see the rest of our winners head to our website
https://www.wildlifevetsinternational.org/winners-gallery
Saving Wildcats
