A crowdfunding campaign has been launched by the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay which is aiming to raise money to build a new home for Snow Leopards. The Silk Road Project will also explore and educate visitors on the culture of China, in association with Bangor University and the Confucius Institute.
There are currently two resident snow leopards at the Welsh Mountain Zoo and they have lived there for eleven years. They are part of the European breeding programme and have been successful breeders, with their most recent litter now moved on to create two more breeding pairs and helping the survival of the species.
The ambitious Silk Road Project will see a completely new home built for the zoo’s snow leopards, to replicate the mountainous regions in which the endangered species lives, while also forging links with China and the Himalayan Mountains exploring the Chinese culture, language, environment and species that originate from there.
The new snow leopard home will be designed to offer visitors a nose to nose visual experience through glass, whilst an elevated walkway will journey around the site, offering panoramic views across the Zoo and to the Carneddau Mountains.
A collaborative fundraiser at Bangor University on Saturday managed to raise a massive £632.19 towards the project.
The project will cost £1million to complete and has already attracted some high profile supporters, including Dame Judi Dench, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Brian Blessed, Rory Bremner and John Cleese, but the project still needs £200,000 through the crowdfunding scheme.
Dame Judi Dench said: “I am delighted to support The Silk Road project to assist the long term survival of the snow leopard, Chinese biodiversity in general and to foster ever better relations with China”
For more information about the project visit the crowdfunding page here:
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-silk-road
The Welsh Mountain Zoo’s two resident Snow Leopards successfully gave birth to beautiful twin cubs in 2014.
