The Catmosphere Foundation holds its second “Catwalk” on Saturday, Nov. 5 to raise awareness about “big cat” conservation. Wildlife lovers will take to the streets around the world and in Saudi Arabia during this event with the aim to conserve big cats.
This year’s outdoor event aims to raise awareness about the importance of conserving the seven big cats — tigers, lions, leopards, jaguars, pumas, cheetahs and snow leopards — with a focus on Arabian leopards as announced by Saudi-led nonprofit Catmosphere. Wildlife lovers can register and select the big cat species to which they dedicate their 7km walk.
Catmosphere was launched by Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, who is on a mission to safeguard the wellbeing of big cats. The non-profit aims to magnify the efforts of Panthera, a US-based charity devoted to the conservation of 40 species of wild cats.
Tiger, lion, leopard and cheetah populations have experienced habitat loss of between 65 percent and 96 percent of their historical ranges, according to figures released by leading wild cat conservation charity panthera.org.
The Catwalk event held last year attracted more than 27,000 participants from 102 countries. Their collective steps cumulatively totalled more than 150,000 km. Catwalk is backed by several partners, including the International Olympic Committee, the Special Olympics, Peace, and Sport, the Association for International Sport for All, and Google.
The Royal Commission for AlUla has already committed $25 million to the Arabian Leopard Fund, an independent organization launched by the commission to work across the leopard’s home range to save the species.
As one of Catmosphere’s partners, the RCU is leading a range of initiatives to conserve Arabian leopards. RCU is protecting six nature reserves, covering almost 50 percent of AlUla, to restore habitat, reintroduce native species and conduct long-term biological monitoring and social outreach to prepare three priority sites for the eventual reintroduction of Arabian leopards.
This year, two Arabian leopard female cubs were born in the Kingdom, which marked a significant milestone in saving the endangered species and offering hope for its revival in the future.
