Eco-friendly Vodka funds first conservation projects

Having completed its first year trading, Snow Leopard Vodka has announced its first conservation projects. Through the Snow Leopard Trust UK and with immediate effect, Snow Leopard Vodka will be funding two conservation projects run by the International Snow Leopard Trust, head quartered in Seattle, USA.

Snow Leopard Vodka believes the solution for the long-term survival of the snow leopard and other endangered wildlife in the mountains of central Asia lies in educating tomorrow’s environmental leaders today.

For children living in the rural Kyrgyzstan’s mountain ranges school is highly valued but rarely attended. Snow Leopard Vodka’s first project pays for these children to attend an eco-camp helping them to foster appreciation and respect for the fragile mountain ranges they call home. This magical education experience allows children to learn more about their mountains’ ecosystem and to interact with other children from the region.

The second project is taking place in Mongolia where the conversion of local communities, who share the land with the snow leopard, from being a threat to a defender of snow leopards is key to the species’ survival. Snow Leopard Vodka has provided enough funds to recruit and train a new village into an economic enhancement enterprise by adding value to the community’s main resource, wool.

In the past, passing traders paid herders pennies for their raw wool. The Snow Leopard International Trust buys the herders’ wool and beautiful traditional handicrafts directly so that they are then sold at good and fair prices to speciality retailers around the world. As part of the programme participating families protect snow leopards and whole families directly benefit from the food, medicine and schooling that the extra income provides.

Sue Brodie, Chair of Trustees of the Snow Leopard Trust UK says “ A big thank you to Snow Leopard vodka who not only share our beliefs and passion for community based conservation being the key to the survival of one of the world’s most beautiful creatures, but who are materially contributing to the cat’s survival. This funding from Snow Leopard vodka is allowing us to start conservation projects we simply would not be able to do without their help”.

Snow Leopard Vodka plans to fund a third project before the end of the year in Northern India; this will focus on eliminating retribution killings by farmers whose livestock has been taken by snow leopards as prey.

By providing the local community with funds to compensate herders for their cattle and a management/administrative system light on bureaucracy and sympathetic to local and tribal governing practices, the Snow Leopard Trust managed project again seeks to convert a mountain’s community to become the principal protector of the snow leopard within that region. The project will also fund a livestock vaccination programme to avoid herders losing their stock to disease.

Brad Rutherford, President of the International Snow Leopard Trust, says “We are hugely grateful for what Snow Leopard Vodka is doing for snow leopard conservation. For a young and exciting company to be funding conservation projects crucial to the snow leopard’s survival is great news. So have a toast with Snow Leopard Vodka and know that you are helping save the endangered snow leopard and increasing incomes of impoverished families sharing their central Asian mountain habitat”.

For more details about Snow Leopard Vodka, visit Snowleopardvodka.co.uk.

For further information about the Snow Leopard Trust and the endangered snow leopard, visit Snowleopard.org.