International Day of the Snow Leopard
Next: October 23, 2027
For the ghost of the mountains.
The story
Where it comes from
On 12 December 2024 the UN General Assembly adopted, without a vote, a resolution introduced by Kyrgyzstan that proclaimed 23 October the International Day of the Snow Leopard. It was first kept as a UN day in 2025. The date marks the Bishkek Declaration of 23 October 2013, when the twelve countries where snow leopards live, from Afghanistan and China to Mongolia and Russia, agreed to protect the cat and its mountain home.
How it's celebrated
Range countries and conservation groups hold forums and awareness events; in 2025 Bishkek marked the first UN observance with a forum on business, ecology and sport. Anyone can join in by learning about the 'ghost of the mountains', so called because it is so rarely seen, and the mountain ecosystems that supply water to a large share of the world's people.
Did you know
- Snow leopards cannot roar; instead they make a soft, friendly puffing sound called a 'chuff'.
- Its tail, about a metre long, helps it balance on steep slopes and doubles as a warm wrap when it rests.
- The IUCN estimates that only 2,710 to 3,380 mature snow leopards live in the wild.
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