I was reading June's issue of National Geographic (yes, I have some catching up to do!) and they featured snow leopards, a species of cats that roam the high mountains in Central Asia. The writer, Douglas Chadwick, and photographer, Steve Winter, did such a great job that I fell in love with this truly beautiful animal.
My favorite part about the snow leopards is how they sometimes use their super long fuzzy tail like we would a scarf, wrapping it around themselves when they're curled up to sleep. I can imagine it being oh-so-adorable. Mind you, though, these are 60-120 pound mammals with claws, so yeah, adorable, but not the cuddling type.
It is also, unfortunately, an endangered species. Sigh, doesn't it feel like that list is a never-ending one?
Good news is, conservancy efforts have been making some headway with their programs to help preserve the animal's natural habitat and to find ways for locals to survive without hunting the animals.
One of the groups mentioned was Snow Leopard Trust that also has an online-shop selling products hand-crafted by the locals. When I went to check them out, I was truly amazed. Here are all these gorgeous things I would love to buy for myself or my home, and you're telling me they're not only handmade, but that I will be helping impoverished locals in that region make a living AS WELL AS SAVING SNOW LEOPARDS?
I'm giddy with joy all of a sudden.
No comments:
Post a Comment